One League Cup semi may not be at Hampden

Published on 02/11/2012 10:14

The Scottish Football League has insisted that there is no guarantee that both Scottish Communities League Cup semi-finals will be played at Hampden.

Celtic, Hearts, St Mirren and Inverness all go into next Thursday’s draw, which will be held 
at Broughton High School in 
Edinburgh.

But SFL Operations Director David Thomson has admitted that only the tie involving the Parkhead side is certain to be staged at the national stadium at this stage.

Competition chiefs will assess the non-Celtic semi-final before deciding whether the match should be played at the 52,000-capacity arena.

Thomson said: “The venues for the semi-finals will be dependent on the clubs involved in the match.

“We will consider other venues if it’s deemed appropriate but the most important thing is that the semi-final is an occasion for the fans.

“There have been situations in the past that we’ve moved semi-finals away from Hampden.

“There will certainly be one semi-final at Hampden and that will involve Celtic.”

The SFL have staged last four matches in the competition at various top-flight grounds over the years.

Since 2005, Hibs’ Easter Road ground, Hearts’ Tynecastle 
stadium and Fir Park in Motherwell have each been used twice to host semi-finals.

News that at least one semi-final could be switched from Hampden on the weekend of 26 and 27 January will come as a blow to players who thought they were certain to be heading for Mount Florida.

Inverness Caley Thistle forward Andrew Shinnie, who opened the scoring in Caley’s memorable 3-0 quarter-final
victory at Rangers on Wednesday night, yesterday tweeted: “Good feeling this morning knowing we’re going to Hampden!”