Aberdeen CEO Alan Burrows has apologised to Dons fans for a cock-up involving tickets for the Scottish League Cup Final v Rangers at Hampden.
The Ibrox side are set to do battle with the Pittodrie club for the League Cup in Mount Florida on December 17th with the first silverware of the season up for grabs.
Heading into the match there has been much made about how the tickets have been allocated, with Rangers (25k) getting a superior allocation than Aberdeen (19.5k) for the game.
Taking to X, Alan Burrows has responded to “frustrated Dandies” and taken “responsibility” for releasing general sale League Cup Final tickets too early.
Burrows also claims the situation – where some high-ranking Aberdeen fans have been left without tickets – as an example as to why there should’ve been an even split of briefs at Hampden.
The statement reads:
“Dons fans,
“I understand that from the tweets and replies, we’ve a lot of frustrated Dandies posting about ViaPlay Cup Final tickets. We have, at the moment, sold out our INITIAL allocation. We have been given up to 19,500 tickets – the first lot of circa 17,000 have gone almost immediately.
“The ticket office set a threshold at 200 points to buy one ticket each then, this afternoon at 5pm, the remainder went on full general sale. Although it was for for the right reasons, in hindsight, this was an error on our part. We should’ve had a second sales period for lesser points before – I.e. 100-199, before full general sale, ensuring there was more control. That’s a lesson we’ll learn. I take responsibility for that and I am very sorry to those who are currently feeling frustrated.
“The good news is that we are still expecting another approx 2500 tickets and we will ensure, when we get them, that priority is given to season ticket holders / higher point holders. If you have so far missed out on tickets and want to go – please email [email protected] and the team there will look to sort you out as soon as we receive the additional batch through (we’re putting pressure on SPFL to have these to us asap).
“This does bring into sharp focus our plea to have been given the opportunity to sell out Hampden on a 50/50 split. Given we’ve sold 17,000 tickets in just a few short days, I think it’s fair to say there is a high probability we could’ve sold out a 50% share had we been given the chance.”
Aberdeen tickets pride causes Rangers chaos
It’s rather telling Aberdeen CEO Alan Burrows has been forced to apologise amid the confusion surrounding the Dons’ first cache of tickets going on sale.
Claiming that the club have sold their initial 17k allocation of tickets, Aberdeen initially held tickets back for the League Cup Final clash for high-ranking members of their My Gers-esque points system.
With those points members having a short window to buy tickets – before 5pm on the 14th of November – they could initially only buy one brief.
The club then put the tickets on general sale where anyone could buy up to four tickets and – whilst it is currently unconfirmed – it’s had plenty of cheeky Rangers fans claiming they’ve purchased briefs in the Aberdeen end.
As a result, it’s quite hard to surmise how much of the allocation of tickets sold by Aberdeen have been taken up by Aberdeen fans and the entire thing has added a new dimension to the fiasco surrounding the game.
With one BBC Scotland pundit claiming the ticket allocation is an example of the “inherent bias” towards Rangers in Scotland, the situation is beginning to stink a little.
Aberdeen – perhaps under pressure to sell the briefs after being outspoken against the SPFL decision – appear to have risked mingling supporters to prove a quite tired point.
The fact that Alan Burrows is now apologising suggests he’s realised he’s been a tad inexperienced in the face of the entire tickets thing and – whilst he might try and spin this in the direction originally intended – from the outside looking in it appears a mess.
With the League Cup Final still one month away, there is plenty of time for Aberdeen to sell the tickets so the decision to try and release them in quickfire fashion has certainly raised a few eyebrows.
On the pitch, as Philippe Clement readies to face off against Barry Robson Aberdeen’s pre-match Euro groans are already falling on deaf ears.
Before then Rangers are also getting ready to face Aberdeen in the Scottish Premiership and the Dons’ captain is claiming the club will be “ready” to bounce back from humiliation at Celtic Park.
