Aberdeen v The Rangers - 23/24 League Cup Final

[thisGRAEME]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

I mean, thats kinda my point. We know 50/50 is fine. The idea that anyone will believe their bullshit is insulting. What has happened is that the SPFL have bowed to the same bullshit narrative they have been fed by Rangers that we see from fans on here. That Aberdeen don't deserve the chance to sell a fair allocation of tickets, and Rangers deserve a higher allocation from the outset. 

Of course a 50/50 split is possible, but that isn't the point that's being made.

If Aberdeen were to have a 50/50 split, while retaining tickets to hand back if/when they don't sell them, that means that the last sections to be sold would be the blocks in the North Stand, in order to hand them back.

There are segregation points within Hampden that allow for 'safe' breaks between the fans, both for entry within the stadium from outside, and inside the ground between toilets/pie stands.

I think although I'm happily proven wrong if someone can find an example of it, the segregation breaks are the middle of the north stand, then at the end where the north meets the east (or west).

The stadium (as with most stadiums I assume) does not allow for any further 'safe' segregation points, say, 3/4 of the way down the North stand. That would then potentially lead to a big chunk of unsold seats bang in the middle of the North stand, right in the middle of the TV arc which would (rightfully, I guess) regarded as 'tinpot'.

There's an argument that the stadium should be 50/50 regardless of this, and I wouldn't argue against that personally, but the League Cup is, and always has been, a money making operation, so any empty seats is money that isn't going into the clubs pockets. It also leaves you in a bit of a weird scenario where Aberdeen would be holding on to what are essentially some of the best tickets until the very end of the selling process, which is stupidly clumsy and weird.

[54_and_counting]

3 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Of course a 50/50 split is possible, but that isn't the point that's being made.

If Aberdeen were to have a 50/50 split, while retaining tickets to hand back if/when they don't sell them, that means that the last sections to be sold would be the blocks in the North Stand, in order to hand them back.

There are segregation points within Hampden that allow for 'safe' breaks between the fans, both for entry within the stadium from outside, and inside the ground between toilets/pie stands.

I think although I'm happily proven wrong if someone can find an example of it, the segregation breaks are the middle of the north stand, then at the end where the north meets the east (or west).

The stadium (as with most stadiums I assume) does not allow for any further 'safe' segregation points, say, 3/4 of the way down the North stand. That would then potentially lead to a big chunk of unsold seats bang in the middle of the North stand, right in the middle of the TV arc which would (rightfully, I guess) regarded as 'tinpot'.

There's an argument that the stadium should be 50/50 regardless of this, and I wouldn't argue against that personally, but the League Cup is, and always has been, a money making operation, so any empty seats is money that isn't going into the clubs pockets. It also leaves you in a bit of a weird scenario where Aberdeen would be holding on to what are essentially some of the best tickets until the very end of the selling process, which is stupidly clumsy and weird.

Too sensible 

[54_and_counting]

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11781/11540218/celtic-receive-more-betfred-cup-final-tickets-than-aberdeen

Aberdeen admitted they negotiated 20k because of past attendances against celtic at hampden, one game they only took 18k for a fucking cup final 

[TheScarf]

For the cup final in June, the segregation in the concourse was literally Heras fencing with a blue tarpaulin thrown over it, and a couple of stewards.  Was very funny.

[AJF]

28 minutes ago, Bairnardo said:

I mean, thats kinda my point. We know 50/50 is fine. The idea that anyone will believe their bullshit is insulting. What has happened is that the SPFL have bowed to the same bullshit narrative they have been fed by Rangers that we see from fans on here. That Aberdeen don't deserve the chance to sell a fair allocation of tickets, and Rangers deserve a higher allocation from the outset. 

 

17 minutes ago, thisGRAEME said:

Of course a 50/50 split is possible, but that isn't the point that's being made.

If Aberdeen were to have a 50/50 split, while retaining tickets to hand back if/when they don't sell them, that means that the last sections to be sold would be the blocks in the North Stand, in order to hand them back.

There are segregation points within Hampden that allow for 'safe' breaks between the fans, both for entry within the stadium from outside, and inside the ground between toilets/pie stands.

I think although I'm happily proven wrong if someone can find an example of it, the segregation breaks are the middle of the north stand, then at the end where the north meets the east (or west).

The stadium (as with most stadiums I assume) does not allow for any further 'safe' segregation points, say, 3/4 of the way down the North stand. That would then potentially lead to a big chunk of unsold seats bang in the middle of the North stand, right in the middle of the TV arc which would (rightfully, I guess) regarded as 'tinpot'.

There's an argument that the stadium should be 50/50 regardless of this, and I wouldn't argue against that personally, but the League Cup is, and always has been, a money making operation, so any empty seats is money that isn't going into the clubs pockets. It also leaves you in a bit of a weird scenario where Aberdeen would be holding on to what are essentially some of the best tickets until the very end of the selling process, which is stupidly clumsy and weird.

Aye, this is what I was getting at, although @thisGRAEMEput it across far more eloquently than I could.

I can only assume this is why the SPFL do not want to find themselves in a position where the tickets that Aberdeen hand back falls inbetween two of the segregated areas. If that happened, then both sets of fans would be using the same sets of turnstiles to get into the stadium which just wouldn't be feasible.

Again though, I am not against a 50/50 split, it would just mean the above issues become apparent if Aberdeen didn't sell their share.

Edited November 9, 2023 by AJF

[kent_don]

13 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11781/11540218/celtic-receive-more-betfred-cup-final-tickets-than-aberdeen

Aberdeen admitted they negotiated 20k because of past attendances against celtic at hampden, one game they only took 18k for a fucking cup final 

One cup final we took around 40,000 fans….

 

[54_and_counting]

4 minutes ago, kent_don said:

One cup final we took around 40,000 fans….

 

Yup and mccinnes moaned at that final cause he wanted aberdeen to get more tickets and to hell with giving them an advantage over caley thistle 

And since that final how many have you sold in other finals? 

And when there wasnt 50/50 splits before why wasn't there such an uproar 

[Jeff Venom]

Clearly it would never have sold out but when Ayr played Killie at Hampden in league cup semi, the starting line for sales was...wait for it...the segregation fence in the north stand at the half way line.

Why can't similar be done here? If so inclined one might think it's a psychological trick for the teams coming out of the tunnel at the neutral national stadium and seeing a wall of opposition fans. On tv the SPFL gets to showcase these big big huge huge clubs as their only selling point when scrambling around to find anyone to sponsor our competitions despite brands probably being turned off associating with brazen displays of bigotry.

[kent_don]

46 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Yup and mccinnes moaned at that final cause he wanted aberdeen to get more tickets and to hell with giving them an advantage over caley thistle 

And since that final how many have you sold in other finals? 

And when there wasnt 50/50 splits before why wasn't there such an uproar 

So you don’t agree with teams having more tickets in the final - But you also don’t agree with giving a 50/50 split?

 

There is always an uproar on tickets when it’s a ‘diddy’ vs an ‘arsecheek’. Seemingly we just have a board that will call it out now.

[Dunfermline Don]

43 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Yup and mccinnes moaned at that final cause he wanted aberdeen to get more tickets and to hell with giving them an advantage over caley thistle 

And since that final how many have you sold in other finals? 

And when there wasnt 50/50 splits before why wasn't there such an uproar 

Inverness didn’t want any more tickets, but they objected to their fans having both tiers but only half of an end of the stadium (similar to the Rangers allocation in days gone by)

They wanted their fans to have the whole lower tier at that end but didn’t take any tickets for the upper tier. 
 

When Aberdeen had sold out the rest of the stadium we asked for tickets in that area but were told that it wasn’t possible for security reasons.

It shows how poor the authorities are in this country when they are happy to have empty seats at a final when fans are looking to go.

it also doesn’t seem to be an issue when old firm fans sit above other teams fans in the south stand at Hampden. 

[lubo_blaha]

51 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

Yup and mccinnes moaned at that final cause he wanted aberdeen to get more tickets and to hell with giving them an advantage over caley thistle 

And since that final how many have you sold in other finals? 

And when there wasnt 50/50 splits before why wasn't there such an uproar 

There wasn’t an uproar in 2018 because Cormack went gung ho for the semi against your lot asking for 20,000 tickets (which was never realistic). 

[VincentGuerin]

You'll get nowhere. Old Firm fans reckon that buying a season ticket to watch your team win every week entitles you to a cup final ticket. That's just how they see it.

This idea of "deserving" a cup final ticket doesn't take into account that in the course of their lives, your average Old firm supporter will have the opportunity to attend dozens of cup finals. Supporters of other clubs will attend far fewer. I've been to eight in nearly thirty years, and I support one of the "bigger" clubs.

It's only right that fans of other clubs have their chances of attending maximised. I include people in that who used to go and don't anymore because of geography, work, other commitments. These folk who support the smaller clubs have every right to enjoy a cup final. Let's have forty years of the Old Firm never having a shot at winning the title and see how many "deserving" season ticket holders they have then.

[AJF]

32 minutes ago, Jeff Venom said:

Clearly it would never have sold out but when Ayr played Killie at Hampden in league cup semi, the starting line for sales was...wait for it...the segregation fence in the north stand at the half way line.

Why can't similar be done here? If so inclined one might think it's a psychological trick for the teams coming out of the tunnel at the neutral national stadium and seeing a wall of opposition fans. On tv the SPFL gets to showcase these big big huge huge clubs as their only selling point when scrambling around to find anyone to sponsor our competitions despite brands probably being turned off associating with brazen displays of bigotry.

Again, I am just guessing, but it may be to do with the corporate/hospitality section being located in the South Stand behind the tunnel. If tickets for this final were sold starting from the segregation line in the middle of the North Stand, then there is a large chunk of seats already taken when you arrive at the South Stand. So it would likely result in Rangers fans being allocated seats further towards the East Stand as a result.

[kent_don]

12 minutes ago, lubo_blaha said:

There wasn’t an uproar in 2018 because Cormack went gung ho for the semi against your lot asking for 20,000 tickets (which was never realistic). 

I remember Dave going for it, but didn’t think it was that year. 

[54_and_counting]

1 hour ago, kent_don said:

So you don’t agree with teams having more tickets in the final - But you also don’t agree with giving a 50/50 split?

 

There is always an uproar on tickets when it’s a ‘diddy’ vs an ‘arsecheek’. Seemingly we just have a board that will call it out now.

I do agree with clubs getting more tickets than others if its deserved, but i dont agree with thr whole idea of "unfair advantage" when mccinnes literally wanted a 5:1 advantage in the final bacl then

 

[coprolite]

11 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

Wonder why aberdeen were happy back then to not have a 50/50 split

 

2 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.skysports.com/amp/football/news/11781/11540218/celtic-receive-more-betfred-cup-final-tickets-than-aberdeen

Aberdeen admitted they negotiated 20k because of past attendances against celtic at hampden, one game they only took 18k for a fucking cup final 

Playing Celtic is a certain defeat. Other cheek, not so much. 

[VincentGuerin]

15 minutes ago, 54_and_counting said:

I do agree with clubs getting more tickets than others if its deserved, but i dont agree with thr whole idea of "unfair advantage" when mccinnes literally wanted a 5:1 advantage in the final bacl then

 

[Melanius Mullarkey]

Do they half wit  Sevcos not understand that its the principle of the whole thing?

 

Edited November 9, 2023 by Melanius Mullarkay

[Melanius Mullarkey]

2 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

Yup and mccinnes moaned at that final cause he wanted aberdeen to get more tickets and to hell with giving them an advantage over caley thistle 

Imagine wanting to have a full stadium at a cup final.  What a moaner eh?

[Molotov]

4 hours ago, VincentGuerin said:

Quiet morning at work, so I'm writing out an email to Hearts over the club's stance on Cup Finals now being declared essentially OF home games in terms of ticket allocations, and allocation of ends in the stadium, given Cormack asked for that to go to a coin toss and was, incredibly, knocked back.

I'll post it up here once it's sent. Anyone else who's bothered by this, don't just moan about it on here. Get in touch with your club and/or SLO.

Nothing changes if we do nothing.

We should also start a campaign to stop sectarian chanting. It’s fcuking unacceptable. Scotlands shame.