POLICE WANTED THIS MATCH POSTPONED
A POLICE request to postpone Saturday’s World Cup qualifier between Scotland and England was rejected last month by UEFA and the Scottish FA. As Sportsmail revealed, police chiefs are unhappy with the 5pm kick-off time at Hampden, believing it maximises the capacity for drinking and crowd trouble. Police Scotland have confirmed that ‘discussions’ with the SFA took place over Saturday’s high-risk fixture before the recent terrorist attacks in Manchester and London. Explaining that the date and kick-off were set in 2015 to allow UEFA to sell the fixture to broadcasters, SFA chief executive Stewart Regan insisted the game would go ahead at 5pm, with unprecedented security for a match in Scotland. Asked when police raised concerns over the date and time of the match, Regan revealed: ‘Three or four weeks ago. They expressed concern about the fixture taking place on a Saturday at 5pm. ‘Right at the outset, they expressed a preference for the match to be moved completely. Then we explained that wasn’t possible. We discussed that with them and they then asked if the kick-off time could be moved and we had that dialogue with them — but we are going with 5 o’clock on Saturday. We will do everything possible to make sure that the match goes off cleanly.’ Coming 48 hours after a General Election, Police Scotland are concerned about raised tensions. Sportsmail’s exclusive yesterday