Ireland fan group You Boys in Green has accused FAI chief executive John Delaney of stoking “unnecessary tension” with comments made on Radio Kerry yesterday
Delaney predicted “tension in the air” at Friday’s Euro 2016 qualifier in Celtic Park, repeating his criticism of their Scottish counterparts over the ticket saga that has rumbled on in the build-up to the fixture.
The SFA has awarded Ireland 5% of the ticket allocation for the game in Glasgow - the visiting’s side entitlement in such a game.
The SFA refused a request for a larger allocation.
The 3,200 tickets failed to satisfy demand and it is believed a large number of Irish fans have purchased seats in home sections on the SFA website.
Delaney said: “The SFA has really acted unprofessionally here with us.
“They only gave us 5% of the allocation, telling us the game was sold out when it’s not.
“It means we’re not able to award tickets to hardcore supporters that we would love to accommodate.
“The mannerly, and common-sense, thing to have done was give us 7,000 or 8,000 tickets and allow us to allocate them to Irish supporters in the one section. It was also be the safest thing to do. I have to make that point.
“Scotland are playing well. This is a derby game, it’s a Friday night in Glasgow and there’ll be tension in the air. To have pockets of Irish fans stuck in Scottish areas is not the correct thing to do.
“In my 10 years as chief executive, no association has treated us as badly as the Scottish have done on this particular occasion.”
The supporters group YBIG responded this evening with a statement, claiming that Delaney’s view is "deeply unhelpful".
"Many of the hardcore supporters that the chief executive mentions will be sitting with the Scottish supporters are a result of the fact that the FAI have no clear and transparent system"
“YBIG believes that comments such as these are deeply unhelpful and do little more that stoke unnecessary tension. Both sets of fans have impeccable records for behaviour and have received awards from federations and other bodies for the support of their national sides. We expect both sets of spectators to contribute to a superb atmosphere on Friday night.
“Once again the chief executive has seen fit to blame the SFA for this saga, noting, ‘They only gave us 5% of the allocation, telling us the game was sold out when it’s not. It means we’re not able to award tickets to hardcore supporters that we would love to accommodate’.
“YBIG have clearly proved that the FAI system to allocate tickets spectacularly failed, irrespective of the size of the allocation. Many of the hardcore supporters that the chief executive mentions will be sitting with the Scottish supporters are a result of the fact that the FAI have no clear and transparent system in place to allocate tickets.
"These supporters have acquired ‘home tickets’ for other games due to the same failures in FAI ticketing which occurred here.
“In previous statements, the FAI confirmed that tickets were allocated to 'known away supporters'. As outlined in our previous statements, YBIG have shown that there were fundamental issues with the allocation.
"This is not the first time this has happened and without significant change it will not be the last.”
