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A council boss has been accused of hypocrisy after backing moves to make Hampden more fan-friendly – weeks after scuppering a similar move by Rangers.

Glasgow City Council leader Susan Aitken wants to see improvements at the National Stadium that will persuade the SFA to stay at the spiritual home of Scottish football.

Safe standing areas and fan zones could be part of the moves on the table.

But earlier this month, she joined forces with her depute David McDonald and Govan councillor Stephen Dornan to demand Glasgow Life deny Rangers the use of the complex on Edmiston Drive for a proposed fans zone.

As a result, the club were forced to scrap their application for a public entertainment licence on a four match trial.

(Image: SNS/Getty) (Image: GCC)

Labour’s Frank McAveety, who is a former Glasgow City Council leader and city MSP Pauline McNeill claimed SNP councillor Aitken, whose Langside ward includes Hampden, has overstepped the mark with her intervention.

McNeill said: “Questions must be answered about this intervention, which is totally improper.

“Glasgow is a great football city and the city council should be working with all clubs.”

McAveety added: “Aitken and McDonald have hijacked a quasi-judicial process.

“The licensing committee were processing this application but pressure was brought to bear.

“I welcome Aitken’s calls for Hampden and don’t see why the same can’t apply to Rangers.

“Football fans are the lifeblood of the city. We need supporters to have the best possible fan experience. Rangers deserve a crack at this.”

Earlier this year, Rangers joined cultural body Glasgow Life to discuss a fan zone.

Glasgow Life hoped it would improve the experience for fans and serve as a blueprint for how the city could deliver the best facilities for supporters at the forthcoming Euro 2020 Championship, with Hampden scheduled to host four matches.

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The idea was to have a zone, with a capacity of up to 2000, on the artificial pitch across from the main stand at Ibrox.

Food outlets and a bar area would be provided, as well as big screens to watch sports and a stage for live music and where club legends could be paraded. Rangers adopted all their suggestions.

A source said: “Everyone was on board, including police, for an event that would have cost the club money, but which we recognise is vital to the fan experience going forward.

“However, grubby municipal politics came to the fore, for what reasons no one can really understand.

“The hypocrisy of Aitken is astounding. She has been speaking loudly and publicly of the need to improve the fan experience at Hampden and yet a few miles across the city denies the same rights to Rangers and our fans.”

Dornan objected to the Rangers plan as he feared the fan zone would deny local kids the chance to play football on match days.

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He said recently: “Rangers should be investing in youth football in the area - they shouldn’t be trying to replace it with burgers and booze. I can’t sit back and watch a kids’ football pitch being taken away

like that.”

It’s understood Rangers managing director Stewart Robertson has written to Aitken to express his anger on behalf of the club.

He included a long list of the club’s work in the Ibrox and Govan area, including financial support for local youth groups, sports clubs and charitable organisations.

A council spokesman said: “Where clubs are pursuing fan zones, it is expected the appropriate levels of community engagement is undertaken and that local representatives’ concerns are addressed.

“This was not the case with the Ibrox proposals, with the community council objecting to the use of a community facility by Rangers FC and their supporters.”

A Rangers spokesman said: “It’s time a light was shone on this entire process.”