THIS TIX THE BISCUIT
SPFL print semi final briefs with WRONG kick-off
LEAGUE bosses remained defiant last night after the latest Betfred Cup botch-up saw fans issued with tickets stamped with the wrong kick-off time.
The SPFL have come under heavy fire ever since announcing plans to stage both last-four ties at Hampden on the same day – then backing down after a furious backlash and switching Celtic’s clash with Hearts to Murrayfield. Now the entire farce has
taken a fresh twist after Rangers and Aberdeen supporters finally got their hands on the big matchday briefs – only to find they’ve been printed for a high noon showdown at Hampden.
That was the original time slot allocated to the match when the proposal to hold two games on the same Sunday was announced.
But as part of the decision to move Celtic and Hearts to the home of rugby, the Aberdeen v Rangers clash was put back to a 4.30pm start. Tickets for the Celtic and Hearts supporters were immediately destroyed and a new batch of 67,000 reprinted with the correct details.
Neil Doncaster and Co chose not to do the same for the second semi-final but instructed both clubs to distribute them to fans along with letters confirming the later kick-off time.
An SPFL statement read: “After consulting both Aberdeen and Rangers, it was unanimously agreed that the already printed tickets – detailing the original kick-off time – should be issued to all supporters. This decision was taken to enable the clubs and their supporters to secure their tickets for the match as early as possible and to help them make the necessary travel arrangements as a full reprint would have taken at least eight days.
“Both clubs also agreed on October 3 to include an information slip with all tickets sold to supporters detailing the revised kick-off time for the fixture and to confirm that the tickets are valid for the match regardless of the original kick-off time.”