Rangers and Celtic must play their next Scottish Cup home ties behind closed doors after their appeals against the sanctions were dismissed by a Scottish FA appellate tribunal. Both Glasgow clubs appeared before the panel on Monday in a bid to overturn the stadium bans, but the original penalty was upheld. Each club will also be obliged to pay £100,000 to the visiting team in their respective Scottish Cup home ties, although the tribunal did set aside a suspended ban on supporters regarding any prospective future infractions.
Celtic strongly condemned the ruling, expressing frustration over what they labelled an "excessive and disproportionate punishment." The club argued that a "false equivalence" had been constructed between the actions of their own fans, who ran onto the pitch "at a moment of emotion and celebration," and the conduct of Rangers supporters. Celtic further maintained that they held no responsibility for the stadium safety arrangements at Ibrox and insisted they should not have faced the same sanctions as their hosts.
The stadium closures were originally handed down in late August as a result of crowd disorder at the end of last season's Scottish Cup quarter-final at Ibrox, a contest Celtic won via a penalty shoot-out. During the March fixture, supporters threw fireworks and other missiles onto the field, leaving police officers injured and resulting in 43 arrests by 25 August. A subsequent independent review published in July, led by Mark Blackbourne, revealed that the unrest "came within a very small margin of becoming a violent mass confrontation," highlighting failings by both clubs and criticising the Scottish FA for not enforcing a stronger stance against crowd disorder.
With the tribunal rejecting both appeals, both sides must now stage their upcoming Scottish Cup home encounters in empty grounds alongside fulfilling the financial payouts to their opponents. The confirmed disciplinary measures follow an earlier agreement reached in September, which determined that no away supporters will attend any Old Firm derbies across this season's SPFL competitions.