Mark Ogren has revealed his ‘shock and frustration’ over the ‘police veto’ that killed off efforts to switch Dundee United’s Scottish Cup clash with Celtic to a Saturday.
The Tangerines have announced their quarter final meeting with the Hoops will take place on Monday, March 14 at 7.45pm.
But, after Celtic crashed out of Europe to Norwegians Bodo/Glimt, hopes were raised that the fixture could instead be staged on Saturday, March 12.
Those hopes were quickly extinguished, with Ogren told Police Scotland would not countenance a potentially crowd-boosting date shift.
It is a situation that has left United’s American owner – who was also disappointed by Celtic’s refusal to negotiate on entry prices – shaking his head in disbelief.
“I’m going to preface this by saying I’ve got nothing but respect for the police and what they do to keep us all safe,” he said.
“That aside, I was shocked when we were talking about the potential nights when we were going to be able to schedule our Scottish Cup game that it came down to Sunday or Monday.
“Well, what about Saturday? We were told by the Scottish FA that, no, the police have already taken that off the table.
“I have a hard time with that. I’m actually shocked and frustrated with the fact that the police have the authority to decide that it’s not in anyone’s interests to have the game on the Saturday.
“God-forbid we look at helping out businesses, clubs, restaurants, pubs and hotels that have been decimated by Covid. This would be a great opportunity to help those particular businesses.
“It’s also a lot more fun for the fans to have Scottish Cup quarter final on a Saturday.
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🏟 The Shed will be open to United fans for our @ScottishCup Quarter-Final against Celtic which will take place on Monday 14th March
Read more on how to cheer on the Terrors as we battle for a place at Hampden ⤵️
— Dundee United FC (@dundeeunitedfc) February 25, 2022
“For it to be denied even before we had the discussion on it, to me that’s not right and it would NEVER happen in the States.
“Quite frankly, I have to believe it would never happen in other places in the UK.
“We should consider what’s best for the club, what’s best for the community and what’s best for the fans.
“In all cases it would have been better to have this game at a different time than Monday night.
“To not even have that discussion – to have it vetoed before it even came to that – is what’s completely frustrating to us.”
United fans will occupy three sides of Tannadice for the Hoops’ Scottish Cup visit.
With a trip to Hampden on the line, the Tangerines had hoped to agree significantly discounted entry fees for fans.
But Celtic drew a hard line at £27 for adult tickets, meaning United either had to accept or see prices revert to the £30 charged for league games, as per Scottish Cup rules.
Ogren remains unhappy with Celtic’s stance.
But he insists there is a sporting advantage to having Arabs in the Shed.
“We want to appeal to our fans to come out, support the club and have some fun,” he said.
“We feel like having the Shed is a big advantage to us.
“It has been a few years since the club has had a cup match of this magnitude at Tannadice and the fans have said before they really like to have the Shed for games like this one.
“Financially, it could have an impact as to what happens with this game, but we’ve listened to the fans.
‘Competitive advantage’
“We feel like having them in the Shed is a competitive advantage to us.
“We had discussions with Celtic about trying to keep the ticket prices low, but they weren’t willing to agree to anything under £27, which was very discouraging.
“I don’t know if they were thinking we would capitulate then determine, for financial reasons, that we should give them the Shed.
“But the fact of the matter is, if we don’t agree to £27 then it goes to £30. That’s the rule.
“So, quite frankly, we were forced in the end to agree to the £27, which is higher than we would have liked to have for our fans – because we want a full stadium.”
