O’Neill lauds SPL club chief over ‘Brave’ decision amid Rangers controversy

Ben Kensell, the head of Hibernian, has received appreciation from Martin O’Neill for his decision to lower the quantity of tickets that Rangers and Celtic receive for games played at Easter Road.

Speaking on talkSPORT on Monday, March 18, via The National, the commentator stated that the Hibs CEO was discussing issues with flares and pyrotechnics rather than engaging in “tragedy chanting” after disclosing that the Edinburgh club was willing to incur losses in order to resolve the matter.

In the event that he believes songs shouted by the Old Firm sides’ fans could be “causing deep offence” to people, he went on, calling it a “brave move” to lower the allocations for those groups.

O’Neill stated, “He was talking specifically about the flares and pyros.” “A player receiving a corner kick and getting showered with objects. Those are not so much tragedies chanting as they are problems (for Hibs). It has been ongoing for a while.

“Do they wish to attempt to outlaw it because someone sings The Fields of Athenry from a Celtic perspective or The Sash My Father Wore from a Rangers perspective? I’m not certain.

“He made a brave decision to reduce an allocation if he believes that doing so will deeply offend many people up there because Hibs will lose out financially.”

Hibernians retaliating at Celtic chants and Rangers

O’Neill has a strong relationship with Celtic, having managed them for five years in the early 2000s, so discussing it could be difficult.

Hibernian’s move is undoubtedly an attempt to protest chants made by some Old Firm club supporters after forward Martin Boyle was insulted during the Scottish Cup match on March 10.

Many people are currently watching how fans behave in Scotland, and there is also a lot of discussion going on around flares.

However, some of the chanting that is audible is unbecoming and has no place in a sports stadium.

After all this time, it will be hard for the authorities to have a grasp on the situation, but Hibs now seem to be taking matters into their own hands by cutting back on their away allocations.

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