So we now know that Celtic will take on Aberdeen in the first Scottish Cup semi-final drawn and Hearts will play theRangers. The draw was made by the former Aberdeen and Scotland goalkeeper Jim Leighton who was probably hoping to get an Aberdeen v Hearts semi-final tie but it wasn’t to be.
Afterwards Leighton gave his thoughts on the draw. “That’s probably the four teams that most people would have predicted would have got through but they’re good ties. Aberdeen have nothing to lose against Celtic so hopefully they will have a right go.
“It’s the biggest cup in the country. (the)Rangers and Celtic are going to dominate the league so the best chances are in the cup. If you’re Aberdeen or Hearts, if you come and sit back you’re going to get beat, so why not have a go?”
Why not indeed Jim. The inevitable scramble for tickets this year is going to be something else because that’s the four biggest supported teams who are through to the Scottish Cup semi-finals.
Both Celtic and theRangers could probably fill Hampden on their own and both will be looking for a sizeable, majority share of the tickets for the national stadium. In contrast both Aberdeen and Hearts will make indignant noises about their right to have 50% of the tickets. The reality though is that they both would struggle to get 25,000 fans through to Glasgow to play against one of the big two.
And the Scottish FA have got wise to this so both Aberdeen and Hearts will be given tickets in a staged allocation with new sections opening up to them on agreed dates. If they haven’t sold enough tickets by the cut off date to claim all provisionally available sections then these will be retained by the Scottish FA and thereafter given to Celtic, theRangers or both.
It will probably pan out with Celtic having the traditional Celtic end (East Stand) and also the North Stand with Aberdeen occupying the West stand. Both sets of supporters will be in the South stand, that’s where the fat-cats sit.
Meanwhile in the other semi-final Hearts will have the East Stand, and theRangers the North and West Stands with the South Stand shared. Everyone will moan about not having enough tickets but it will be the ordinary supporter who will be struggling to get a ticket because the fat-cats will have plenty to go around, as they always seem to at Hampden for the Scottish Cup semi-finals and final.
Jim Leighton also talked about Scotland’s ever so exciting summer at the EURO 2024 and the former Scotland keeper was full of praise for the job Steve Clarke has done with the national side.
Leighton won 91 caps during a stellar Scotland career which saw him represent his country at three major tournaments. He was full of praise for the job Steve Clarke has done as Scotland boss, as he reflected on his own experiences of playing in the opening game at a major tournament, ahead of Scotland’s EURO 2024 opener against Germany.
Jim added: “Scotland have done really well under Steve Clarke. They’ve been scoring goals and they’ve not been conceding many which is a great combination. He has done a great job from where we were to where we are now and long may it continue.
“The first game has got a big influence on it. Again, I think you’ve got to go and have a go. There’s so point losing meekly. Unfortunately in the major tournaments I played in, we weren’t able to get through the group stages in any of them and we had some exceptionally talented players.
“I was always wanting to be the first goalkeeper to get through the groups at a major tournament but sadly it didn’t happen. Hopefully Angus Gunn, or whoever is in goals this summer, can have that accolade.
“The best experience in my life was playing against Brazil in the opening game of the 1998 World Cup in France so it will be fantastic for our players this summer. People always ask me what my favourite game was and that’s the one that will live with me forever.”
