BEARGER 1,829 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 (edited) 53 minutes ago, ian1964 said: His last point is the real agenda! He’s correct though. We would be saying the same if we were the second game. Better add I agree that’s its not a politicians place to worry about pitch, only football fans. Aberdeen and Hearts fans should boycott if so concerned, I know I will be. Edited September 28, 2018 by BEARGER 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gonzo79 14,143 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Clint Moscow asks a reasonable question. Dornan's answer speaks volumes about his political wherewithal. 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,563 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 In full: Craig Levein rails against SPFL and Neil Doncaster Andy Coyle 9 hours ago Jamie Borthwick 9 hours ago Craig Levein has branded the SPFL's decision to play the League Cup semi-finals on the same day at Hampden as "crazy" and says the organisers haven't done their job properly. The Hearts boss believes the SPFL could have reached the worst decision they could have come to and are disregarding the best interests of supporters. In a lengthy media conference before the match at St Johnstone , he gave his thoughts on the decision and made his feeling clearly known. Here's what Levein had to say about the plan that sees his side play Celtic at Hampden on October 28 at 7.45pm, hours after Aberdeen and Rangers have met on the same pitch: "It's the craziest thing I've ever experienced in football. "How you can come to this decision based around what should be one of the... there are four semi-finals in the season in the two big cup competitions so it's a huge thing for Scottish football. So how they've come to this decision is beyond belief. "It's just madness, honestly. There's so many things that could go wrong. "The first thing is that we've not been to a semi-final for five years. We want to go and play at Hampden and we want our supporters to be there in numbers. That is my priority. "I want 50% of the tickets. I want to go to Hampden and feel like we've got a huge Hearts presence there. There's one thing for certain: we're not getting that on a Sunday night at 7.45pm. We're not getting that. "I've got players talking to me about how disappointed their families are that they can't come and watch their dad playing in a semi-final. That'll go for our supporters and for Aberdeen's because of the travel arrangements that affect us most with the very nature of when the game is. "I just don't understand how they can come to that decision and think it's all right. That's the thing with me, it just doesn't compute. "You need supporters to come to the game to make it what it is. And we're actually discouraging them from coming to the game. It's absolute madness. "See if it goes ahead at 7.45pm on a Sunday night, I want us to get 50% of the tickets. If we get 25,000 tickets and we only sell 15,000 this club will take no responsibility for that. That will fall fair and square back at the feet of Neil Doncaster and the SPFL because they made the decision to put a game on that does not suit supporters. "That's not true. We've told them it doesn't suit us and Aberdeen have told them it doesn't suit them. How does that suit Aberdeen? And I know that the Old Firm have support from all over the country and I know it won't suit some of their supporters either. The vast majority will come from the Glasgow area so it's easier for them. "I believe that there isn't a train from Aberdeen that gets in before 15 minutes after kick-off. How is that the best option to suit the four teams? "Here's an option for you: Our biggest advantage against Celtic in this semi-final is Celtic playing on the Thursday evening in Europe. In my opinion I would give that up to have 25,000 Hearts supporters at Hampden to help us. "We play Celtic the following week [in the league] so why don't we just cancel that game, reschedule it further down the line and play that day. "What's wrong with that? Is that not a better solution? "See when somebody says that the best option is X then I assume that they've looked at other options. If you're saying that's the best option then you must have looked at the rest. "For me, why don't you just change the game against Celtic to be the cup tie. Is that not a better option? [The SPFL say there is a contractual obligation] "Only if the Old Firm are involved, eh? "And who wrote that? Who signed that contract? "See if you looked ahead and you envisaged that Celtic might not be in the Champions League and there's a chance they might be in the Europa League that would be a huge red flag immediately. "So why would you sign a contract that said that? It just doesn't make sense. "I'm getting annoyed. I just don't understand how this is the best option, and we've not really talked about some of the other things that could go wrong, like 100,000 supporters of four different clubs in Glasgow and it could be at the same time. "And if something goes wrong, why would you tempt fate with so many things that could happen that would tarnish the name of Scottish football. This just defies any sort of logic. "If it pours with rain then we have a situation that there's no way they could fix the pitch. There's no way, it just won't happen. "Of course it's not. I really don't understand what the logic is behind this decision. "I'm annoyed for the supporters and I'm annoyed for my players. I want half the stadium full of Hearts supporters when we play Celtic. I want the best chance of that happening. "I've already said I'm happy to give up a competitive advantage of Celtic having played on the Thursday and us having no midweek match, to move to the following week when we would have both played midweek and we both play at the weekend. So that we have our supporters there in numbers. [Would you give up part of the midwinter break to play that league game?] "The scheduling of this game, surely we could find one date between now and April? That's all it needs to be. [Could you see Hearts fans making a point of principle and not buying tickets?] "I don't want that to happen either. It's turned what should be a magnificent experience for everybody into a situation where people don't want to go. It's farcical. "Let me go back to this: If they are saying this is the best solution then they've not done their jobs properly. "In fact, it could possibly be the worst decision." https://stv.tv/sport/football/1431381-in-full-craig-levein-rails-against-spfl-and-neil-doncaster/ The Hearts boss says there is no logic to the League Cup semi-final schedule. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Walterbear 557 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Craig Levein spot on. Can’t argue with any of that. Safety and sporting integrity out the window. Having said that it will be compulsive viewing. But for all the wrong reasons. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
barca72 440 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 If Police Scotland say they have enough resources to properly police back-to-back semi-finals in one day, why can't they police one Loyalist( OO, ABOD or RBP ) parade walking up the Calton? 3 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
aweebluesoandso 290 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 Everything that big balloon Doncaster touches, turns to mush. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
ian1964 10,563 Posted September 28, 2018 Share Posted September 28, 2018 As SG said in his press conference, I am delighted we are playing first and looking forward to the match 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JFK-1 1,690 Posted September 28, 2018 Author Share Posted September 28, 2018 I'm happy that the sheep are unhappy. I have seen the glee among then when we're unhappy. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
compo 6,463 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 I can see the Celtic semi being put back to a date that suits them . 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Uilleam 5,618 Posted September 29, 2018 Share Posted September 29, 2018 Perhaps a prominent Club Chairman, or the Chairman of a prominent Club, could telephone the SPFL and demand/implore that it does no favours to rasellik in this regard. 1 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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