The Betfred Cup semi-final between Rangers and Aberdeen should be a sell-out, but the Dons look like trying to avoid that.
According to the Daily Record, the SPFL are furious with Aberdeen’s selling strategy for their tickets. After receiving around 20,300 briefs for the semi-final, clubs were instructed to fill their capacity block-by-block. They’ve so far sold 10,000 of them.
The Dons have decided to go against that, however. Instead, it looks as though Aberdeen are refusing to sell tickets with the worst views of the pitch. Therefore, huge patches of seats are remaining unsold in each block as fans get scattered everywhere.
On the day of the match, it therefore could be the case that there are huge gaps of empty seats in the Aberdeen supporter. The Dons were told to return any unsold tickets, which would then have been given to Rangers for the semi-final.
Instead, Aberdeen look like they’ve decided to keep those tickets and just refuse to sell him to supporters for now. The SPFL have since sent a letter to the Granite City club stating their anger at their behavior and strategy throughout the matter
Fair or unfair?
You can see Aberdeen’s point in what they’re trying to do. They’re a club still visibly fuming from the ticket allocation, and it’s being told in how they’re selling their briefs. But not selling the worst seats when better seats are available does also seem like common sense.
Whether there could be any repercussions for the Dons’ actions remains to be seen. There’s been no rule released about having to follow the SPFL’s instructions when selling tickets, so they could very well get off with this one.
It’s certainly a shame, however, if up to 10,000 Rangers fans can’t get in because Aberdeen don’t want to sell certain tickets. It’s taking away certain supporters’ rights to go and see their club.
Rangers have declined to comment on the matter, but it appears that the SPFL are fuming with Aberdeen. Whether this was done in spite due to their ticket allocation, we’ll never know.
Rangers have already sold all 26,000 of their tickets, and are awaiting any spares that Aberdeen may have to give. As it stands, however, it looks like the Dons are going to just keep their unsold tickets until further notice.
