CELTIC supporters who have already booked flights, ferries, train tickets and buses to get to Hampden for the 7.45pm Sunday evening kick-off of the Betfred Cup semi-final against Hearts are in for some serious inconvenience.
Anyone who listened to BBC Sportsound last night will have heard Michael Stewart hammer home his contention all through the programme that the Hearts v Celtic tie should be moved to Murrayfield. A Police Federation chap came on the show and that was all that Stewart wanted to talk to him about.
The Aberdeen Managing Director was next to have his say and Stewart recruited him to view that Murrayfield should be used for the Hearts v Celtic match and Hampden for the Rangers v Aberdeen game, both matches on the same day and with kick-offs much closer together.
Neither Stewart of any of the other panelists, including Tom English, thought to ask the Police why they had insisted on the Rangers v Aberdeen game kicking off first.
The initial plan certainly annoyed both Hearts and Aberdeen, the former because the kick-off was too late on a school night and the latter because the noon kick-off was too early to get their travelling support down to Glasgow.
Celtic had some concerns about the state of the pitch and Brendan Rodgers made a joke about Craig Levein liking that, but other than that the Celtic manager said we’d just have to get on with it.
Steven Gerrard was delighted with the scheduling and had no complaints.
As is always the case, as soon as fixtures are announced Celtic supporters will book flights, ferries, train tickets etc in order to be at the game.
Now those plans are in disarray.
Aberdeen fans will be happy as their kick-off at Hampden will probably be around 3pm rather than noon.
Hearts will be delighted at the advantage of moving the game to Murrayfield, just minutes away from their own ground in the West End of Edinburgh.
Rangers are essentially unaffected by the change in time, but not venue. They are as before the least affected by all of this.
Celtic though – are now having to play in Edinburgh and thousands of supporters will have to try to re-arrange their travel plans. Hundreds are going to be out of pocket.
Today the Police Federation spoke out, following the Sportsound show last night.
One thing that was clear from that was that the SPFL had claimed falsely last week that all parties were supportive of the initial plan. Aberdeen and Hearts were not at Doncaster, Blair and the rest of them were well aware of this.
Why say it if it isn’t true?
Doncaster was unavailable last night but today he has signalled that the big Murrayfield Switcheroo is on – and it will be Celtic who will be inconvenienced.
Here’s what Doncaster has said: “After the draw, we spoke to Hampden Park Limited to ask whether they would release us from a contractual obligation to host all semi-finals involving the Old Firm at Hampden. They declined our request and we were unwilling to breach this contract and risk legal action.
“However, I’m pleased to report that we have been contacted this morning by SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell who said that Hampden Park Limited has now reconsidered that position and have agreed to waive that legal obligation.
“This is clearly extremely welcome news. We immediately contacted Police Scotland and informed them of this development and this has enabled us to open talks to explore whether the match could be staged at an alternative venue in the timescales available.
“Whilst we are taking nothing for granted and are unable to make a definitive announcement at this early stage, if agreement can be reached between all parties involved, this would allow us to change from the original kick-off times which Police Scotland specified to ensure the matches could be staged at Hampden on the same day.
“Whilst we received firm assurances from both Hampden Park Limited and Police Scotland that they were able to host both games on the same day, today’s very welcome call is a potential game-changer.
“Everyone recognises that it would be better if we can hold these matches in separate stadia and the fact that we’re now able to explore that option is great news.
“We will now discuss with a number of parties, including the SFA, Police Scotland and the clubs involved before reaching a definitive position, which we will announce as soon as possible to enable fans to make the necessary travel arrangements.”
The pending decision in summary, please Rangers, appease Hearts and Aberdeen…Celtic? Screw them!
Photographs of the Celtic support are from the Celtic v Legia Warsaw match at Murrayfield which Celtic won 3-0(!).
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