Irish chief warns of ‘tension’ over ticket snub

FAI chief executive John Delaney insists there will be “tension in the air” at Friday night’s game, due to the SFA’s ticket snub to Irish fans.

By The Newsroom Tuesday, 11th November 2014, 12:33 pm

Campbell Ogilvie has insisted the SFA have dealt with the ticket allocation correctly and said they have done nothing wrong. Picture: John Devlin

Delaney launched a fresh attack on the Scottish FA over their Euro 2016 qualifying ticket row, labelling his Scottish counterparts “unprofessional”.

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The SFA have only supplied the Irish supporters with five percent of the available allocation amounting to 3,209 tickets, however this has sparked anger among Irish fans, as demand for the tickets is estimated to be three or four times that much.

The SFA have since defended their decision, with Campbell Ogilvie insisting that the governing body had followed FIFA’s rules which state that a minimum of 5 per cent in tickets must be allocated to travelling fans.

The Scottish FA explained their position on the issue, stating: “The Scottish FA wishes to clarify reports regarding away ticket allocation for the forthcoming European Qualifier against Republic of Ireland at Celtic Park.

We have fulfilled our obligated allocation of away tickets to the Football Association of Ireland of 3,200, in compliance with UEFA regulations.

“The match is now approaching a sell-out and we are releasing the last remaining restricted view seats via public sale to home fans.

“Given the demand for tickets from Scotland supporters, and the need to comply with UEFA’s safety and security regulations, we will be unable to increase the Republic of Ireland’s away allocation.”

Delaney is not happy with the situation and has spoke out following pressure from Irish fan associations who have demanded something be done. He said: “The Scottish Football Association has really acted unprofessionally here with us. They only gave us five per cent of the allocation, telling us the game was sold out when it’s not. It means that we’re not able to award tickets to hardcore supporters that we would love to accommodate. The mannerly, and commonsense, thing to have done was give us 7,000 or 8,000 tickets and allow us to allocate them to Irish supporters in the one section. It was also be the safest thing to do; I have to make that point. Scotland are playing well. This is a derby game, it’s a Friday night in Glasgow and there’ll be tension in the air. To have pockets of Irish fans stuck in Scottish areas is not the correct thing to do.

In my 10 years as chief executive, no association has treated us as badly as the Scottish have done on this particular occasion.”

Former Republic of Ireland manager Jonny Giles agreed with Delaney’s statement saying that he couldn’t understand why the SFA were acting the way they were. He then added that “Anything could happen” during the match and that if there is “trouble on the night” the SFA will be “to blame”.

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