Dundee Fans Chief Has Blast At Hearts Over Tynecastle Ticket Allocation

[JoeCovenant]

Angry fans chief Kenny Ross has branded Hearts’ decision to allocate Dundee just 700 tickets for this weekend’s Premiership clash as ‘disgraceful’.

The Dark Blues travel to Tynecastle on Saturday for the first time in two years and, instead of being backed by their usual band of punters, regularly hitting more than four figures, they’ve been handed a reduced number of seats for the game.

In fact, it equates to just 8% of the ground’s capacity.

“None of this makes any sense,†said Dundee Supporters’ Association chairman Ross. “When they came to visit Dens Park we handed them 25% of the ground. And to be fair to them they filled it. But Dundee could easily have taken more than the 700 we were offered.

“This club regularly takes more fans than that away from home and that number is particularly high when we travel to Edinburgh, especially since we’ve not played Hearts for two years. Club policy seems to be that unless you are Aberdeen or Celtic you don’t get the full 1,400. Everyone outside of those two is dished out just 700.

“I think it’s a disgraceful decision to lump us in with the likes of Hamilton and Ross County. We are in an era where crowds are dwindling in Scottish football — clubs should want to get as many fans through the gates as possible, not turn them away.â€

Dee supporters chief Kenny Ross says travelling fans will be out of pocket. (Picture by David Young)

The decision has left many Dark Blues’ travel clubs outraged, especially as many had taken bookings well in advance for the short trip to Edinburgh, which sold out, to Dundee fans, last Friday. Ross says he’s been inundated with emails, texts and calls from confused members now facing up to the prospect of not taking their place in the away end. He says hundreds could be left out of pocket by the decision. And as a result he’s heard of a number who are taking action into their own hands.

Ross said: “I know some people already have tickets bought for the home end. This is not, and never will be, a practice we advocate but people are deciding they’d rather do that than not see their team. Some of our biggest travel clubs have got buses full of members booked in to go to game, yet they have not got anywhere near enough tickets to give them.

“This looks like it might leave lots of people out of pocket. Fans are wasting money paying for buses and the clubs may well have lost deposits on the transport. It’s a sad situation really. It’s one we hope will not be repeated in the future.â€

The Dark Blues themselves requested another 700 tickets for the match but were refused by the Jambos who stuck rigidly to their policy. Ross had decided to write to Hearts and the SPFL for explanation on the issues.

He’s also vented some of his own, and other fans’, fury at the lack of tickets, although he is not expecting to get any response.

“We wrote about the problems at Celtic with seating in the away end last year,†he said. “And, while we got a reply from the club, we did not get one from the governing body.â€

Hearts declined the opportunity to comment on the matter.

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