Levein: I’ve never seen fans treated in this way
Hearts manager points finger at Blair and Doncaster over cup semi-final plan
Craig Levein insists blame for low attendances at next month’s Betfred Cup semifinals double-header at Hampden Park should be laid squarely at the door of Neil Doncaster and Iain Blair.
The Hearts manager was incandescent yesterday as he tried to fathom the thought process leading to the decision to stage two games at the same venue on the same day. Levein said that never in nearly 40 years in football has he seen such blatant disregard for supporters.
He used terms such as “embarrassment” and “shambles” as he hit out at the decision-makers, with Doncaster and Blair, respectively chief executive and secretary of the SPFL, his principal targets.
Levein focused on the impact the scheduling will have on the ordinary fan as opposed to the attendant risk of violence, with four sets of supporters mingling in the same city on the same day.
Levein was echoing comments made by Hearts owner Ann Budge in a statement put out by the club on Thursday night. But he was far less tempered with his words as he spoke of his anger at fans of both Hearts and Aberdeen being inconvenienced.
Aberdeen are scheduled to play Rangers at Hampden at midday, with the first train from the city not reaching Glasgow until after kickoff. Hearts, meanwhile, have been told to play Celtic later that same day at the same stadium, with kick off 7.45pm. This arrangement has provoked outrage for several reasons, including the threat of public disorder.
“Here’s the situation,” said Levein. “We have to ask for 50 per cent of the tickets for the Sunday night. That’s only fair. We have to give our supporters the opportunity to go. The fact is, it’s unlikely we will sell them
all. We might only sell 15,000. But I’ll tell you something: This will fall squarely back at the feet of Neil Doncaster and Iain Blair. If the people don’t come, then that’s their fault. It’s nothing to do with the supporters and it’s nothing to do with us. It’s a joke of a decision.
“In all my time in football, I have never seen such disregard for supporters in any situation,” added Levein. “If you could find a way to inconvenience people, then this is the perfect way to do it – it’s a shambles, honestly.
“I’m angry. It’s a disaster for
the supporters, particularly for us and Aberdeen. I know the Old Firm have supporters all over the country but the majority of them are in the west. Travelling to Hampden is much easier for them than it is for other people.
“There is human stuff,” he continued. “We haven’t been to a semi-final for five years, we have players here who have never played at Hampden and want to go there with their families and kids. It’s just not possible at 7.45pm on a Sunday evening. Aberdeen fans have to get to Hampden for noon with no trains. Do you not think it’s embarrassing?”
Levein revealed he was prepared to give up Hearts’ “competitive advantage” if switching the game to the following weekend, when Hearts are due to play Celtic in the league, was an option.
“Here’s the thing: Our competitive advantage is Celtic playing on the Thursday night in Europe,” he said. “We don’t have a midweek game. I’d give that up now to swap the fixtures so we could get a memorable occasion at Hampden. I don’t care about the competitive advantage. I want our supporters to be there so it feels like we’ve got the backing of the Hearts fans. That’s more important to me. I want to walk out and see 50 per cent of the stadium maroon. I don’t care about the advantage [we would have] of Celtic having played on the Thursday night.
“I’m not even going into other things which could be unmitigated disasters,” he added. “You’ll have 100,000 people in Glasgow, not all drinking but one or two will be. Anything could go wrong. You’ve got the pitch situation, possible damage to toilets which has happened in the past. There is a list of things which could go wrong. If any of those things do go wrong, Scottish football will be tarnished by it. Why are we asking for trouble? It’s just madness.”
The SPFL poured cold water on hopes that the Celtic-hearts semi-final could be played the following weekend.
The league said: “We looked at every possible alternative. Doing so would have created additional fixture challenges.
“Switching the Celtic v Hearts tie until 3 or 4 November would have meant restoring the Celtic v Motherwell Ladbrokes premier ship match to its original date of 28 October. That would have created a situation where Celtic and Rangers would both be playing in separate stadia in Glasgow on the same day. Police Scotland would not have supported that.
“We arrived at this decision only after lengthy and exhaustive discussions with all our stakeholders, including Police Scotland. They have reassured us they are content with the decision to play both ties at Hampden on the same day and have the resources to manage the situation.”