A recent study has revealed just how big a contribution Celtic and Rangers make to the total league attendance of the Scottish Premiership .
A report by CIES Football Observatory shows the Parkhead club are 16th in European football’s biggest crowds. With an average attendance of 49,697 over the past five seasons, Celtic are shown to be one of the Continent’s best-supported clubs.
No surprise there, then.
Rangers , meanwhile, are in 18th position and like Celtic enjoy healthier crowds on average than clubs such as Liverpool, Milan and Chelsea.
But it’s the dominant percentage of total league attendances that the pair of Glasgow giants can boast which is more of an eye-opener.
Celtic contribute a staggering 36.5 per cent of towards the Scottish top flight’s sum crowd. They are top of the table for any league in Europe – and by some margin.
That is, around a third of the total number of fans who go to watch Premiership teams can be found at Celtic Park.
Hadjuk Split of Croatia are next with 33.9 per cent , while Rangers are eighth with 27.4 per cent for the past five seasons.
The figures come at a time when crowds and ticket allocations are a hot topic in Scotland.
Kilmarnock and Rangers are embroiled in a row after Killie chiefs announced they would be halving Rangers ticket allowance for the final game of the season.
Instead of Rangers receiving two stands - 8,000 tickets for Rugby Park - they will only get the 4,000-capacity Chadwick Stand.
Killie argue they want to create a party atmosphere for their own fans and turn the Moffat Stand into a fan zone. Rangers responded by saying they would "consider carefully what allocation we will seek for future matches at Rugby Park".
Are Kilmarnock right to cut Rangers allocation? The arguments for and against
It comes at the tail end of a season which also saw Rangers and Celtic slash each other's away allocations for derby matches to just 800.
In the past Hibs and Aberdeen have also come in for criticism for cutting Celtic or Rangers away allocations at their stadium.
