O'Neill hopes for full Celtic allocation at Ibrox

Martin O'Neill is relishing the prospect of more Celtic fans at Ibrox

Interim manager Martin O'Neill hopes Celtic will be granted the full ticket allocation available to them for next month's Scottish Cup quarter-final against Rangers at Ibrox.

Teams in the Scottish Cup have the right to claim up to 20% of tickets, which at Ibrox is more than 10,000.

However rules also state that both clubs and the police have to agree to a designated away end.

Traditionally, around 7,500 Celtic fans filled the Broomloan Stand for Old Firm derbies at Ibrox, but their allocation was reduced to fewer than 1,000 by Rangers in 2018.

Since then, away allocations at both Ibrox and Celtic Park have fluctuated between about 750 and zero in a series of tit-for-tat moves.

O'Neill says it would be "fantastic" to see a large Celtic contingent return to Govan.

"I think that would be lovely. I've talked to a lot of people down south in my time living down there and they think exactly the same, it would be fantastic to get back," he said.

"I don't know the club stance, but if you take me out of the club at this minute, just being a Celtic supporter, I would want all the tickets we can get - the allocation that's available to us under the rules.

"I assume that would be forthcoming. I thought that the Old Firm fixture lost a little bit in the sense that the full allocation was not given, for whatever reason.

"I don't know historically what it was. I've got kind of an idea, but it doesn't really matter.

"That did lose a little bit of one of the great fixtures in European football, if not the world.

"But at least there's some fans coming back and it makes a bit of a difference.

"To get the full allocation as we did, going to Ibrox and having the side to the left full of Celtic fans, was always gratifying."

Meanwhile, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain could make his debut against Livingston on Wednesday and key defender Kieran Tierney could be fit despite a suspected broken nose.

"He's looking pretty good," O'Neill said about former Liverpool and Arsenal midfielder Oxlade-Chamberlain, who signed as a free agent last week.

"I haven't picked the squad yet, but there's a possibility of that.

"Kieran came off with a suspected concussion [against Dundee] - I think he broke a bone in his nose. But he's OK and I think he wants to be available."