Betfred Semi-Finals

[red23]

18 minutes ago, Flybhoy said:

What are Craig Levein and Derek McInnes thoughts on some fans kids getting to bed late and being tired at school the next day?

Disgraceful this hasn't been taken into account.

Probably more concerned about the potential number of Celtic fans that will be around them.

[Arch Stanton]

18 hours ago, IrishBhoy said:

It does sound like quite a simple solution to put on special trains but parts of Scotland can only handle certain types of train e.g. electric/diesel as well as the lengths of trains at smaller platforms which would cause problems. I wouldn’t imagine a train would be able to go from Aberdeen to Kings Park without having to switch trains. 

A Dundee Utd fan has already stated that it IS possible.

[1320Lichtie]

What are Craig Levein and Derek McInnes thoughts on some fans kids getting to bed late and being tired at school the next day?
Disgraceful this hasn't been taken into account.

You're getting very boring constantly repeating this.

[Raidernation]

If the SPFL really feel like this then surely all rasellik and rahun games ever have to be played in Glasgow?

[gastropod]

17 minutes ago, alta-pete said:

I’m not a fan of cockwomble, SPFL, Unions, the polis or, actually, any of the three other clubs involved. f**k ye’s all!

But I’ve got to hand it to the boy from the polis union on Reporting Scotland (Hamilton his name I think) who admirably hit the nail on the head succinctly - to paraphrase - the decision to schedule this suits the blazers and no-one else.

In theory it should be an event that suits the majority of travelling fans , but BT Sport are big winners here..They will not give one single f@ck for anyone who has to leave at 7am or get home at 2am...This will sell them advertising all day , while some English games are peak viewing sandwiched in between ,.

[HibeeJibee]

15 minutes ago, Raidernation said:

surely all rasellik and rahun games ever have to be played in Glasgow?

In all seriousness - has either OF ever played a Final or Semi-Final (since they went to neutral venues in early 1900s) outside Glasgow?

EDIT: Rangers-Raith in Ramsdens Cup... Celtic-Aberdeen 1925-26 (@Tynecastle)... Rangers-Hibs 1927-28 (@Tynecastle)... = 91yrs?

[The Master]

58 minutes ago, Arch Stanton said:

A Dundee Utd fan has already stated that it IS possible.

It might be possible as a route, but there's more to it than that. 

You can't just run a train over some track and hope for the best. The rolling stock needs to be cleared to run on every bit of track it touches to make sure it's not too wide for platforms, line side equipment etc. As an example, the "happy trains" that are on Edinburgh-Glasgow as a stopgap because of the issues with the new trains needed a few inches shaved off the step-boards at the doors because they fouled at least one station platform. 

I can't remember the last time there was a football special to Mount Florida/King's Park from somewhere north. Dundee had a chartered train for the 2003 Scottish Cup Final but it was to Queen Street, with fans expected to make their own way to Hampden. Should ScotRail find the means to operate a service for Aberdeen fans, that's almost certainly what will happen again.

[Forest of Dean]

5 hours ago, Marten said:

I agree that yourselves reaching the group stage was unexpected. I never expected it myself, and neither did any of the Rangers fans I know. However, with 3 Scottish teams in the EL qualifiers it's always possible for one team to either have an incredible good run of form and/or extreme luck with the draws and end up in the group stage as a result. With how the CL/EL qualifiers are set up in the new structure, it's quite a task for any Scottish champions to actually qualify, but the chance to reach the EL group stage is quite big if it goes wrong, so Celtic were always likely to get there. So in my opinion, they should have taken it into account.

Yeah agreed it was a lot more likely Celtic would make the group stages as even if they dropped out of the Champions League, as they did, they would still likely be in European group stage competition.

[lubo_blaha]

It might be possible as a route, but there's more to it than that. 
You can't just run a train over some track and hope for the best. The rolling stock needs to be cleared to run on every bit of track it touches to make sure it's not too wide for platforms, line side equipment etc. As an example, the "happy trains" that are on Edinburgh-Glasgow as a stopgap because of the issues with the new trains needed a few inches shaved off the step-boards at the doors because they fouled at least one station platform. 
I can't remember the last time there was a football special to Mount Florida/King's Park from somewhere north. Dundee had a chartered train for the 2003 Scottish Cup Final but it was to Queen Street, with fans expected to make their own way to Hampden. Should ScotRail find the means to operate a service for Aberdeen fans, that's almost certainly what will happen again.

Scotrail have put on “football specials” for Aberdeen fans several times before for semi finals and finals at Hampden and Celtic Park tbf. The last time they only announced it nine days before the game by which time everyone had made other arrangements. There was even a service that went from Aberdeen to Mount Florida as recently as 2011.

[VanCityHibee]

CL is a miserable, monotonic, speccy twat, a sigh in human form ...but he is 100% spot on with his comments.

Publicly laying the blame for what may or may not happen on Dungcasters lap is brilliant.

Good on him for standing up for his club and fans. 

We can only hope for a day when we have strong personalities that up sell our fantastic game and treat the paying fans with a modicum of respect.

 

[gastropod]

Everything is  great folks ,,, Kris Boyd has got his take on it in tommoras  "soaraway sun " ..Lets just say  his opinions give no concern or sympathy to any fecker  that is not  Glasgow / tv  and The Rangers  .. DO NOT BITE !!!!!!!

[GordonS]

 

On 27/09/2018 at 19:01, H Wragg said:

Sorry, I didn’t word my post well.

I was talking about them putting on an earlier train or two from Aberdeen to Queen Street rather than football specials direct to King’s Park.

The latter could actually be a decent solution.

The entire trains argument is pretty trivial, tbh. A six-carriage Class 170 train, typical on the Aberdeen-Glasgow route, has about 360 seats. You might get a few more on an HST. Fact is, only a very small proportion of fans would have been taking the train under any circumstances, and there are coaches at that time on a Sunday too. It's just not important enough to be a major part of the planning. And I say that as someone who travels to a lot of games by train. 

 

On 27/09/2018 at 20:47, Alert Mongoose said:

Is this decision money driven? They only have the keys to Hampden for five minutes and they are already putting money before sense. 

22 hours ago, Flybhoy said:

So, general consensus on here...

I actually agreed to some extent with some of the points you were making. But some of the things you said, like calling Ann Budge a prostitute, mark you out as a Class A wankpuffin. So that's a hard no from me.

 

10 hours ago, killiekranky said:

This is the perfect opportunity to drag Scottish Football into the 21st Century. 

Turn it in to a showcase of Scottish football, where one ticket allows you to see both games.

A 30 minute break between the games with live music and pipe bands on the pitch.

4 sets of supporters allowed to mingle freely in a Festival of Footballing Friendship.

This could be the Scottish Superbowl.

What could possibly go wrong ?

There's only one reason why that couldn't happen; a very significant proportion of football fans are arseholes.

There's an awful lot of hand-rubbing glee on this thread (this isn't aimed at you, killiecranky) about the prospect of mentally deficient males who ought to have their gonads removed in order to prevent them from breeding, hitting each other in the streets because the 11 millionaires with whom they connect their sense of self-worth even though they'll never meet them and who would regard them as contemptible scumbags if they ever did, are playing sport against 11 other millionaires. That the scheduling of a football match in 2018 has to include consideration behaviour that belongs in the bronze age is profoundly pathetic, not something to be excited about. Seems like a lot of boys never grow up.

[GordonS]

On 27/09/2018 at 20:43, HibeeJibee said:

Other SF in 2015-16 was at Hampden. Those are just the most recent examples - most League Cup SFs not involving OF haven't been at Hampden.

If it now has to be Hampden that must only have happened in the last 2yrs. It is certainly the case that Scottish Cup SFs are always at Hampden - and that's been the case for decades.

If they are tied to Hampden. it seems a bit inflexible, too: when you get matches like Inverness v Hearts (at ER in 2012-13), Hearts v St Mirren (at Fir Park in 2009-10) or Aberdeen v Dundee Utd (at Tynecastle in 2007-08) it could be far too big.

According to the SPFL website the contract was inherited from the SPL, so it's older than that. But the obligation is that semi finals involving Celtic or Rangers, and those likely to get a crowd over 20,000, would be played at Hampden.

[IrishBhoy]

4 hours ago, The Master said:

It might be possible as a route, but there's more to it than that. 

You can't just run a train over some track and hope for the best. The rolling stock needs to be cleared to run on every bit of track it touches to make sure it's not too wide for platforms, line side equipment etc. As an example, the "happy trains" that are on Edinburgh-Glasgow as a stopgap because of the issues with the new trains needed a few inches shaved off the step-boards at the doors because they fouled at least one station platform. 

I can't remember the last time there was a football special to Mount Florida/King's Park from somewhere north. Dundee had a chartered train for the 2003 Scottish Cup Final but it was to Queen Street, with fans expected to make their own way to Hampden. Should ScotRail find the means to operate a service for Aberdeen fans, that's almost certainly what will happen again.

You are either a train spotter or you work for Scotrail

The 365 trains also had to spend a certain number of hours on track for the RMT to accept them. Not as simple as people think. 

[Swordfishtrombone]

Kris Boyd offering a fuckwitted opinion nobody needed to hear.  At what point  does his cheerleading for his employers rivals become an embarrasment. 

[Silvio]

11 hours ago, Aylo vanal said:

I'm hoping to see Aberdeen and perhaps the new **** try a Sevilla type protest with the tennis balls to delay their game as much as possible and BT to have a camera watching Doncaster available on the red button.

For this to work at Hampden they'd need to be able to throw like Steve Backley 

[G-MAN]

Kris Boyd eh ?

What a sad sad bitter c**t.

[Jack Burton]

Kevin Bridges is playing the Hydro the night of the semi finals so that'll be another 13k in and around Glasgow.

[Unleash The Nade]

16 hours ago, Jmothecat2 said:

So apparently there's no contractual obligation for league cup semi finals to be at Hampden. There is however a contractual obligation for any semi final involving Celtic or Rangers to be played at Hampden. Literally one set of rules for those teams and another for the rest.

Apparently the police were unwilling to accept the Celtic vs Hearts league game taking place on the semi final weekend and the cup game taking place the following week as it would involve both Celtic and Rangers playing in Glasgow on the same day. It seems that for some reason that is fine if it's at the same stadium even in different games.

There is a proviso to say one of the semi finals could have taken place if the police did not deem the SPFL plan acceptable. This to me suggests the SPFL bent over backwards to accommodate the police (hence the ridiculous kick off times) in order to ensure the police didn't object. They would rather that that create a positive solution for fans.

Brilliant post and proves what a total bunch of mindless fuckwits have made this decision 

[bennett]

3 hours ago, Swordfishtrombone said:

Kris Boyd offering a fuckwitted opinion nobody needed to hear.  At what point  does his cheerleading for his employers rivals become an embarrasment. 

Maybe you could tell us what he said and why you disagree with it....