Hearts have announced that the ticket allocation between themselves and Celtic next month will be a 50-50 split.
The two will tangle in a mouth-watering Scottish Cup final clash. It’s the first time the two sides have met at Hampden in seven years. You have to go all the way back to 1956 for the last time the two met in a Scottish Cup final, however. Hearts won the day 3-1 on that occasion, so we won’t go too much into that.
But Hearts will be given an equal 50-50 split of Hampden, which equates to 20,220 tickets. This comes after around 17,500 of their supporters descended on the national stadium after being given 25,000 briefs for the semi-final against Inverness.
Considering it could be the day the Hoops wrap up a treble treble, this could lead to some being frustrated. But, the truth is, Hearts fully deserve their split and there can be no complaints.
It’s easy to point to the game against Inverness, but you only have to look back to October 2018.
Hearts can easily sell out their share
Hearts vs Celtic at Murrayfield saw both sides given 30,000 tickets each in a similar 50-50 split. The match saw 61,161 fans turn out for the massive Betfred Cup semi-final clash. So despite Hearts being given so many tickets, the game was sold out.
Matches between these two in cup competitions are special occasions. Hearts proved back in October that they can more than do their part in filling half of Hampden.
Even if there’s a chance that they can shift them, they have to be allowed to it. And if, for some odd reason, they struggle to sell their full allocation, there’s still the chance the tickets not sold could be handed back to the Hoops.
But nobody can deny the chance for Hearts to sell it out. Despite their game against Inverness being on freeview, they still brought a decent support over from Edinburgh.
It’s important we take a step back and realise that it’s Hearts’ cup final just as much as it is ours. Any complaints regarding the decision is fairly nonsensical. Hearts deserve the chance to sell out, and they most probably will.
All it should mean is that the Scottish Cup final next month is an even more tense and historical occasion.
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