ENGLAND’S chances of beating Scotland in Glasgow in the World Cup qualifiers have been given a massive boost – by the SFA.
Alan McRae, the SFA president, has confirmed Scotland’s Saturday night World Cup-tie against England will go ahead at Hampden in June 2017 and not at the bigger, noisier, more atmospheric Celtic Park.
He said: “The game will be played at Hampden. That’s our national stadium. The only reason the Scotland v England game was at Parkhead last year was because Hampden was out of commission for the Commonwealth Games.”
And SFA chiefs will soon meet for discussions with their FA counterparts over ticket allocation for the two games.
The Tartan Army were handed a bumper 20,000 allocation for their last trip to Wembley in 2013, which were quickly all snapped up. And England were also handed a generous allocation for last year’s friendly at Celtic Park. But for a World Cup qualifier, allocations are likely to be slashed and McRae revealed talks will be held soon.
He said: “It’s probably too early to say, but we’ll try and get the best for our fans. I was at both games in 1999 [for the Euro 2000 play-offs, when England won 2-1 on aggregate]and they were terrific. Both games at Hampden and Wembley will be wonderful occasions for the fans and we’re very much looking forward to it.”