Hearts manager Steven Naismith has broken his silence on the Tynecastle club's decision to cut Celtic's allocation for this weekend's Scottish Premiership clash.
In recent seasons the Edinburgh outfit have cut tickets for away supporters, barring Hibernian who still receive the whole Roseburn Stand for derby fixtures.
As a result Celtic have been handed just 576 tickets for this weekend's Premiership fixture and Brendan Rodgers has spoken of his disappointment in the allocation in the build up.
In response, Naismith told Sky Sports today: "Celtic will have their view, just like we have our view with what we get when we go to away grounds.
"Over the last five or six years, the momentum has been building for the club in general, whether that be with the new stand being built, the backing the club have got or the foundation of the fans taking control of the club.
🗣️ "Celtic will have their view... just like we would have our view when we go to away grounds." Steven Naismith looks ahead to Hearts' game against Celtic, less away fans at Tynecastle & Alex Lowry's future amid a potential Rangers recall. Watch Sunday's game live on Sky 📺 pic.twitter.com/qNnDW0Nh0r
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) October 19, 2023
"All the optimism comes with creating a bigger following and, first and foremost, we need to look after our fans and give them the opportunity to support us.
"As a country, we can look around at other leagues and see the way things are done. There are so many aspects of the game in Scotland that we can improve.
"But every club is looking out for themselves and rightly so, to give their fans the best opportunity to watch their team."
On the match itself, Naismith added: "You're testing yourself against some of the teams that are going to be challenging for the league. They're inevitably tough games and the approach is different, in terms of how much you're going to have the ball.
"They're fantastic games to play in and we've got a cup semi-final. As a club, that's where we want to be.
"It'll be an intense month but it's one you want to be involved in."
Speaking earlier this week, Rodgers explained: "It's always a difficult place to go, Tynecastle. However, we'll relish the game, it should be a great atmosphere. Sadly again, I don't think there are so many tickets for our supporters.
"So we'll have to go there without our same support. However, we've shown already this season that we can go into venues that are tough venues and get the results that we need.
"So we want to go in there and perform well and fingers crossed we get all the players back from international duty healthy and fine, and throughout the week we can do our preparation and we'll look forward to that game on Sunday."
