Celtic and Rangers await ruling on appeals against closed-door Scottish Cup ties
Both clubs were ordered to play their next home Scottish Cup ties without fans and fined £100,000 after March's pitch invasion at Ibrox.
Inside Ibrox Stadium. File photo. · Photograph: Jim Smillie (CC BY-SA 2.0)
Celtic and Rangers are waiting for a Scottish FA appellate tribunal to decide whether they must play their next home Scottish Cup ties behind closed doors.
Both clubs presented their appeals on Monday, and the tribunal will now consider its decision.
The sanctions
The stadium closure orders were announced in late August following disorder at the end of last season's Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, which Celtic won on penalties.
Both clubs are also challenging fines of £100,000 each. They were warned they could be forced to play a second home match without supporters if there is any further unacceptable behaviour.
What happened at Ibrox
Fans from both clubs ran onto the pitch after the match on 8 March. Fireworks and other missiles were thrown and police officers were injured. By 25 August, 43 arrests had been made.
Earlier this month, a Rangers supporter was jailed for 16 months and banned from football for eight years after encouraging fans onto the pitch and throwing a bottle that narrowly missed a police officer.
An independent review led by Mark Blackbourne, published in July, concluded the incident came within a very small margin of becoming a violent mass confrontation. It found failings by both clubs and criticised the SFA for not taking a tougher approach to crowd disorder.
In September, it was agreed that there would be no away fans at any Old Firm derbies in this season's SPFL competitions.