Aberdeen see Celtic ticket request REJECTED but Hearts handed 50/50 Rangers split

Aberdeen have been given just 19k tickets for their Scottish Cup semi-final with Celtic- but Hearts have been granted an initial 50/50 split with Rangers.

The last four learned on Thursday that Celtic’s clash with Aberdeen is to take place on Saturday, April 20 at 12.30pm, with the Jambos taking on Rangers a day later on Sunday, April 21 at 3pm. Both Aberdeen and Hearts made cases for the chance to sell half of the stadium to their own fans with a view to returning any which aren’t sold by a pre-agreed deadline.

Hearts have announced that their request has been granted and they will be given 21,000 tickets to sell – exactly half of the allocation on sale to fans. But it has emerged that Aberdeen have been told no. This is due to their track record of ticket sales at this stage of the competition previously. Aberdeen are yet to comment while a Hearts statement reads: “Heart of Midlothian is delighted to give the following update to supporters with regards to ticket allocations for the Scottish Gas Scottish Cup semi-final.

“Yesterday, the club put forward a proposal to secure an equal share of tickets, guaranteeing Hearts supporters the opportunity to purchase seats in Hampden’s North Stand. We had to make an extremely strong case for our argument, given the size of our opponents’ fanbase and historic semi-final ticket sales.

“We are, therefore, extremely pleased to confirm that our proposition was accepted, and both Hearts and Rangers will be given an initial 21k allocation of tickets to sell to our respective supporters. We would like to thank the Scottish FA for their assistance in this process.

“This gives us the best opportunity to have Steven Naismith and our players walk out onto the Hampden pitch to a sea of maroon, spread out equally and fairly across the national stadium.”