Rangers game off as too many tickets sold

GLASGOW: Rangers’ Scottish Division Three match at Elgin City was postponed on Friday after too many tickets were sold for the game.

The teams were due to meet for the fourth-tier fixture at Elgin’s Borough Briggs Stadium this afternoon, but security concerns saw the fixture called off after fans rushed to buy tickets.

The ground in Moray, north-east Scotland, has a capacity of 4,927 but only 478 seats.

“Following today’s (Friday’s) pre-ops meeting for the above match, it has come to light that there has been a substantial over-sale of tickets for this fixture and Elgin City Football Club could not confirm the exact number of tickets which have been sold for this match,” said the Scottish Football League in a statement.

“Therefore, on the grounds of public safety and in close consultation with all parties, this match has now been postponed.

“Further information regarding tickets which have been sold will be provided as quickly as possible.

“Elgin City FC would like to apologise sincerely for this disappointing outcome. The SFL will conduct a full investigation into the circumstances.”

Rangers accepted Elgin’s apology, but manager Ally McCoist said the decision to call the match off was frustrating.

“We are disappointed the match has been called off at such short notice and I know Elgin are as well,” he said.

“This was due to circumstances out of our control but we were informed a short time ago that there was no way the match could go ahead on safety grounds.

Relegated to the lowest level of the Scottish league system after going into administration at the end of last season, 54-time national champions Rangers have been attracting record attendances in the fourth tier.