HAMPDEN Park is danger of being close to half-empty for the visit of Diego Maradona's Argentina tomorrow, despite Scotland's international fixture with the South Americans being trumpeted as a glamour friendly.
The recent appointment of Maradona as coach of Argentina had been expected to send ticket sales soaring, after a slow initial uptake, but the SFA confirmed last night that only half of the 52,000-capacity stadium was sold out so far.
When the pros
pect of hosting Argentina was first mooted earlier this year, the SFA had toyed with the idea of increasing ticket prices to meet the cost of luring the two-time World Cup winners to Hampden, only to be met with fierce resistance to the idea from Scotland supporters, who said they would rather scrap a proposed friendly than pay inflated admission prices.
However, following successful negotiations with the Argentina FA, the lowest adult ticket price was able to be pegged at a reasonable £20.
The relaxed pricing policy had been expected to instantly boost sales, and when Maradona was subsequently appointed coach the game had looked destined for a sell-out. The match will be shown live by Sky Sports, but nevertheless ticket sales have proved surprisingly sluggish for what is the highest profile friendly seen at the stadium since France visited as world champions in 2000.
"Ticket sales at the moment stand between 25,000 and 30,000," confirmed an SFA spokesman. "We normally get under 30,000 for a friendly match so we hope to get more than that with the level of interest that has been apparent over the last few days."
George Burley's first match in charge of Scotland, the friendly against Croatia in March, attracted an attendance of just under 29,000, while the last home friendly against Northern Ireland in August pulled in a crowd of 28,072.
Hamish Husband, spokesman for the West of Scotland Tartan Army, said he was not surprised that the attendance for the Argentina game was again heading for around the 30,000 mark, given that it was being staged the month before Christmas and on a midweek evening.
"It's still a glamour game and Maradona has created a lot of added interest, even though you would have packed the place out if he had been coming here as a player and not a coach," said Husband. "The down side is that the folk from the Borders, Dumfries and Galloway and the Highlands will find it tricky to attend, and I think most of the people at the game will be from the central belt.
"Possibly attendances are still suffering too from the defeat against Italy a year ago. We still seem to be on a bit of a downer after that defeat.
"But I think the SFA should be praised for the ticket prices and hopefully bringing Argentina here will be a precedent for big-time friendlies for Scotland."
Fans will be still able to sell tickets at booths outside the Hampden Park West Stand up until the 7:45pm kick-off tomorrow. Tickets can also be obtained from The Hampden Park museum shop and the official Scotland shop in The Plaza shopping mall in East Kilbride. There is a ticket line on 0844 481 1818, while tickets can be bought online at www.scottishfa.co.uk.
