Dundee United fail in bid to move Cup semi

The Scottish Football Association has rejected a request from Dundee United to move their Scottish Cup semi-final away from Ibrox, should Rangers reach the last four.

Ibrox Stadium. Picture: SNS

The Tannadice club wanted the game switched to Celtic Park in the event of Rangers beating Albion Rovers in tomorrow’s quarter-final replay at New Douglas Park.

Stephen Thompson, the United chairman, is adamant the semi should be played at a neutral venue and petitioned the SFA but his plea was dismissed.

“A semi-final or final should be at a neutral venue,” Thompson said. “This is not an issue with Rangers, it’s with the SFA and putting commercial and sponsors’ interests before that of fans. We wanted to play the match at Celtic Park but that was flatly denied.”

An SFA spokesperson said: “The clubs were informed of the venue just after the first round of the cup, due to Hampden Park being out of commission because of the Commonwealth Games. There were no issues raised then at that early stage.”

The semi-final is on 12 April and United claim they will be given just 13,100 tickets if their opponents are Rangers. Ibrox’s capacity is 50,000.