Kris Boyd isn’t someone Celtic fans tend to agree with. His latest complaint about Hibs, though, will sound familiar to anyone who’s tried to get an away ticket for Easter Road.

Celtic left Edinburgh with a 2-1 win, but the away end held just 1,699 Hoops fans. That’s a fraction of the support Celtic used to take to Leith.

Kris Boyd calls out Hibs over Celtic away ticket allocation

Boyd told Sky Sports Scotland: “It’s a huge loss over the course of the season not to give the away team, especially Rangers and Celtic when they come here, the whole allocation.”

Not so long ago, Celtic could take close to 4,000 supporters to Easter Road. Most of the South Stand would be packed with green and white.

That changed in March 2024 when Hibs cut the away section amid concerns about supporter behaviour. The club also wanted more seats available for its own fans.

For Sunday’s match, only 1,699 tickets went to Celtic. The Hoops used to get between 3,800 and 4,000, so more than 2,100 tickets have been taken out of the allocation.

Hibs wanted more of their own supporters behind the goal. There’s nothing wrong with that, but the sight of empty seats while Celtic fans were left without tickets is hardly a great advertisement for the policy.

Hibs could be losing up to £200k under current ticket policy

The money Boyd is talking about isn’t some imaginary figure either. Hibs chief executive Dan Barnett discussed the possible cost of reduced away allocations back in March.

Barnett said: “It equates to around between £150,000 and £200,000 a year if our fans do not take up the allocation that’s not allocated to the opposition.”

Barnett wasn’t claiming Hibs had already lost £200,000. His estimate depended on whether home supporters bought the additional tickets, and covered the wider policy rather than Celtic games alone.

Still, that’s a fair amount of money to have riding on the decision, especially when Easter Road isn’t full.

The obvious answer is to look at giving visiting clubs more tickets when Hibs can’t sell the extra seats themselves. It would require proper segregation arrangements, but there’s surely a conversation worth having.

Boyd has never been shy about having a go at Celtic, and supporters have given him plenty back over the years. This time, however, his criticism is aimed at a policy that has left thousands of away tickets unavailable.

Hibs might prefer a smaller Celtic support inside Easter Road, but empty seats don’t make any noise or put money in the bank. Boyd is right to question it.