SPL: Alloa and Celtic set for Scottish Cup switch

Celtic's Tennent's Scottish Cup third-round tie against Alloa has been switched to a neutral venue.

Martin O'Neill's bid to retain the treble faces a tough test against Terry Christie's ambitious outfit.

But the police have told Alloa that their Recreation Park ground was inadequate to stage the tie because of safety fears.

Celtic had hoped that the game would be taken to Parkhead, but the Scottish Football Association have ruled that out.

And Alloa are not in favour of switching the game to Stirling Albion's Forthbank Stadium.

Alloa were locked in meetings to find a suitable venue and will make an announcement on Tuesday.

"There's no decision yet," said Christie. "But it looks like there will be a change of venue.

"That's not been decided but the rules of the competition won't allow it to go to Parkhead so that can't happen.

"I'm not sure about the alternatives at this time, but I don't think we'll be going to Stirling Albion.

"The police have put the kybosh on that because they are concerned about the crowd coming from Celtic.

"But we'll definitely have a change of venue and we'll find that out on Tuesday."