St Johnstone manager Tommy Wright has called on the club’s supporters to back his players as they attempt to reach the final of the League Cup.
The Perth men meet Aberdeen in the semi-final at Tynecastle on Saturday February 1, and the Saints boss is hoping a large and vocal travelling support will make their way to the capital to cheer on the team.
Season ticket holders have already snapped up over half of the club’s initial allocation of 3,300 tickets but, with the general sale of semi-final tickets due to start from McDiarmid Park today, Wright has issued a rallying call to the Saints faithful ahead of one of the season’s biggest fixtures.
Wright said: “I’m aware that we have the whole of the stand behind the goal that our fans normally occupy at Tynecastle and it would be great to see that full and our demand may even prove sufficient to warrant us receiving additional tickets which I believe would be available.
“However good the sales we’ll be outnumbered by the Aberdeen support but it would be great if our fans could back us as much as they could.
“National cup semi-finals don’t come along very often.”
Saints have been given the whole of the Roseburn Stand, which is normally occupied by away fans at Tynecastle, but have been told that further allocations will be available in the main stand subject to demand.
If taken up, Saints could well have a total allocation of 5,000 tickets.
However, Aberdeen, who are flying high in the league and still in both cups, have already exhausted their allocation and everyone at McDiarmid Park is hopeful that the Saints support will take up their remaining quota.
A Saints spokesman said: “We have the option of additional tickets if we sell out the Roseburn Stand but that offer from the SPFL is not open-ended and, with huge demand from Aberdeen fans, we will be under pressure to let them know as soon as possible if we are likely to take up that option so we would urge fans to buy as early as they can.”
Following negotiations with the SPFL and St Johnstone, Aberdeen managed to secure an initial allocation of 10,700 tickets which have now all been snapped up.
Fans have been reminded that the game is not live on television, and tickets are competitively priced at £20 for adults, £10 for under-16s and £5 for under-12s.
Tickets went on general sale from the ticket office at McDiarmid Park from this morning.