The SFA’s announcement that this season’s William Hill Scottish Cup final will be held in Glasgow at Celtic Park has been greeted with anger by fans throughout the rest of the country.
Both semi-finals will also take place in Glasgow, at Rangers’ Ibrox Stadium, with the ties scheduled for the weekend of April 12 and 13.
The decision has been taken by the SFA because Hampden will be out of commission due to redevelopment work being undertaken in advance of the 2014 Commonwealth Games.
The fact the ties will all be held in Glasgow has sparked outrage with supporters outside the city with many questioning why a neutral venue, such as Murrayfield in Edinburgh, could not be used.
The timing of the announcement, long before the identities of the teams who will be involved in the semi-final ties is known, has also attracted fierce criticism.
The backlash forced the SFA to respond to all the negativity, using its Twitter profile to try to explain point by point why the decisions were made.
In an earlier statement, Scottish FA president Campbell Ogilvie said: “We are fortunate in Scotland to have three world-class football stadia and, with Hampden Park due to undergo redevelopment work ahead of the 2014 Commonwealth Games, it is natural that we would seek to utilise both Celtic Park and Ibrox Stadium as venues for Scottish football’s premier cup competition.
“We are delighted to stage both semi-finals at Ibrox and the final at Celtic Park and on behalf of the Scottish FA, I would like to thank both Celtic and Rangers, as well as the SPFL, for their support in hosting these matches.”