Methinks The Press Doth Protest Over-Much

PERHAPS few issues have exposed the paucity of thinking in the mainstream media in Scotland in this year of our Lord 2018 than this week's shitstorm over the decision to hold both Betfred Cup semi-finals, at Hampden on the same day.

 The Betfred Cup logo

I accept, there are several controversial issues surrounding the timing of the two games, but, in one particular point, I believe the tiny minds within the various msm sports desk teams have been guilty of hysterical over-reaction. That point is the basic one of the logistics of putting-on both games, in the same stadium on the same day.

The argument that this will cause carnage is a ridiculous one. Sure, two of the four clubs have a somewhat large lunatic fringe among their following. The other two also have small groups of loonies who might not be out-loonied by the massed ranks against them, but, by and large, the ordinary fan just wants to get in and out of the game relatively quickly.

Back when I was a boy and young man, I was one of over 130,000 fans who could get in and out of Hampden without problems for Scotland v England games. I have been to Scottish Cup finals with bigger attendances than what will be the aggregate attendance of both games on Sunday, 28 October.

IF, and I will wager now, this will not happen, IF both games were sell-outs, and everyone with a ticket turned up, there would be a maximum of 104,000 inside the ground on the one day. If Police Scotland cannot come up with an arrangement that allows this to happen, then they are incompetent.

And PS are certainly not that, anywhere other than in the imagination of the wilder minds among the political points-scoring ranks of the Scottish Conservative and Unionist Party and the British Labour Party in Scotland – who will, in any case, blame anything which goes wrong on the SNP government.

Let's look at the timings:

• The gates are usually opened an hour before kick-off, occasionally this happens 90 minutes prior. So, the Hampden gates will open at 10.30am for the first match – giving 90 minutes in which to get a maximum of 52,000 fans inside the ground.
  
  
• The match will last, allowing for injuries and a celebratory lap of honour – approximately two hours. It should be over by 2pm – 2.30pm even.
  
  
• This means, the ground should be cleared after Match 1, five and a quarter-hours before the second match kicks off.
  
  
• Allowing for the gates being opened 90 minutes before Match 2 kicks-off (at 6.15pm) there is a three and three-quarter hour fallow window between games.

One potential cause of friction might be, if the first game goes to extra time and penalties. If that was to happen, that window between games would be shrunk by an hour, to two and three-quarter hours.

OK, not a lot of time in which to get the free-loaders out of the corporate hostility section of the ground and the area re-dressed for the second shift. But, it could be done.

Similarly, the back stage staff would have to get a move on, to clean-up the dressing rooms etc between the games.

These are, as I see them, the real potential problems, none of which cannot be overcome. Everything else is white noise.

However, you still have to wonder how we arrived at such a pr disaster for football. I mean, to me the simplest way out would be, to hold-over the second game to Monday night. Or, was that too-obvious?

 Neil Doncaster - he was the messenger, not the message writer

And another thing, all this abuse being hurled at poor old Neil Doncaster. Neil runs the SPFL secretariat - their civil service if you like. It is his, and his team's job to come-up with plans and suggestions, solutions to problems.

Which he and his team then have to place before the SPFL board for final approval. It is not Neil Doncaster who has decided what is to be done - it is the Board members who make the final decisions.

So, don't shoot the monkey and let the organ grinders off Scot free.