Celtic have demanded answers after failing to secure approval for safe standing at their stadium.
The club are seeking clarification over who makes the decision after being told different things by local and Scottish governments.
A statement read: "Celtic Football Club is extremely disappointed and concerned that approval could not be given at today's meeting of the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) to grant permission to install rail seating at Celtic Park, designed to allow safe standing by supporters.
"The club has provided substantial and detailed information in support of this proposal over the past two-and-a-half years and has made every effort to address comprehensively all issues raised by the SAG.
"Today's decision has been made despite the club also providing the requested additional information from an independent stadium safety expert, Dr Steve Frosdick.
"Surprisingly, we have also today been informed by the Safety Advisory Group, chaired by Glasgow City Council, that this may be a matter for the Scottish Government, and yet we have previously been told by the Scottish Government that this is a decision which must be taken locally at council level.
"Spectator-safety at Celtic Park is of paramount importance and we believe the proposals we have made would significantly enhance safety at matches. This is a vitally important spectator-safety issue. It is also an opportunity for Glasgow and for Scottish football to lead the UK in this area.
"We do not understand the rationale for today's decision and in an attempt to seek clarity on this matter, we have requested a full written explanation for the judgement made. Once this has been received we will be in a position to communicate further with our supporters."
Top-flight clubs in Scotland relaxed their rules on safe standing in December 2011 but none have introduced official areas.
Supporters Direct Scotland stated its disappointment with the decision.
A statement read: "Research conducted recently by SDS in association with the SFA showed strong support for safe standing in Scottish football.
"Over 90 per cent of respondents stated that they would be in favour for the reintroduction of safe standing areas, whilst the majority of those surveyed said that they would be more likely to attend games on a regular basis if safe standing was available."
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereComments are closed on this article