Scottish Premiership side Dundee United Chair Stephen Thompson "went to war" with the Scottish FA and "accused them of getting their facts wrong," according to Alan Marshall of the Scotland DAILY RECORD. Thompson swears the ruling body was “economical with the truth” in its account of ticket plans for the Scottish Cup semifinal against Rangers at Ibrox on April 12. In a statement, the SFA insisted Dundee was offered 11,063 tickets, but turned them down in favor of being allocated the 8,012-seat Broomloan Road Stand “in order to ensure maximum attendance.” Thompson said, “We are unhappy with this statement because it’s not our understanding of what took place. It is economical with the truth. And the tone of the SFA’s statement to a member club, a club in the semifinals of a national competition, and producing so many good young players for the national team, is just awful.” A request to shift the tie from Ibrox "has already been turned down but United repeated their call for a neutral venue." Thompson said, “At least I put my name to any statements from Dundee United regarding this matter" (DAILY RECORD, 3/19). The SCOTSMAN reported when asked how many Dundee fans he "reasonably expected" would buy tickets for this fixture, Thompson "predicted a figure between 12,000 and 14,000." Thompson: "We will not need 20,000 tickets. I reckon 12,000 to 14,000 will probably be more accurate. But if we wanted 20,000, we should have been offered 20,000. It’s the way it was handled. We were dictated to from the start, and the SFA were more interested in looking after their commercial sponsors than neutrality and sporting integrity" (SCOTSMAN, 3/19).
