Delaney in renewed attack on ‘unprofessional’ Scots

FAI chief executive John Delaney has again slammed the Scottish FA over ticketing arrangements for Friday’s Euro qualifier, branding the body "unprofessional" and forecasting "tension to be in the air".

The hosts of the European Championship Group D clash at Parkhead refused to allocate more than the regulation 5% to the FAI despite tickets on the home section still being available to purchase yesterday on their website.

With such slim pickings arising from the 3,200 tickets allocated, thousands of loyal supporters have been left ticketless to the annoyance of Delaney and the FAI.

“The Scottish Football Association has really acted unprofessionally here with us,” Delaney told Radio Kerry.

“They only gave us 5% 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 Ireland manager and current senior television pundit John Giles is equally aghast at the route taken by the SFA.

He said: “Anything could happen during the match. If there is trouble on the night, they will be to blame. And they’ll have to pay the price for that. I can’t understand why the Scottish FA is doing this. Their fans will have to come over here. If the FAI behaved in the same way, the Scottish fans wouldn’t get a fair deal either. We don’t want any of that. But with Irish fans in the Scottish sections, you just don’t know what could happen.”

Delaney, who confirmed that the FAI’s long overdue Technical Development Plan will be launched next month, feels a result on Friday will lay the groundwork for crowds returning to Lansdowne Road for the final half of the campaign next year.

“If we do well in Scotland, it brings a momentum with it,” he said. “We will see packed crowds with at lot of expectation for our home games. And Please God, if I’m here in 12 months, we’ll be talking about going to France as opposed to a hard-luck story.”