Ogren left shocked by cup clash ‘police veto’

Mark Ogren has revealed his “shock and frustration” over the “police veto” that killed off efforts to switch Dundee United’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic to a Saturday.

The Tangerines have announced their quarter-final meeting with the Hoops will take place on Monday March 14 at 7.45pm. But, after Celtic crashed out of Europe to Norwegians Bodo/glimt, hopes were raised that the fixture could instead be staged on Saturday March 12.

Those hopes were quickly extinguished, with Ogren told Police Scotland would not countenance a potentially crowd-boosting date shift.

It is a situation that has left United’s American owner – who was also disappointed by Celtic’s refusal to negotiate on entry prices – shaking his head in disbelief.

“I’m going to preface this by saying I’ve got nothing but respect for the police and what they do to keep us all safe,” he said.

“That aside, I was shocked when we were talking about the potential nights when we were going to be able to schedule our Scottish Cup game that it came down to Sunday or Monday.

“Well, what about Saturday? We were told by the Scottish FA that, no, the police have already taken that off the table.

“I have a hard time with that. I’m actually shocked and frustrated with the fact that the police have the authority to decide that it’s not in anyone’s interests to have the game on the Saturday.

“God-forbid we look at helping out businesses, clubs, restaurants, pubs and hotels that have been decimated by Covid. This would be a great opportunity to help those particular businesses.

“It’s also a lot more fun for the fans to have a Scottish Cup quarter-final on a Saturday.”