Aberdeen’s chief executive Alan Burrows made his disappointment clear after today’s game at Dens Park was called off just an hour before kick-off, with a 3,500 strong Red Army contingent already in Dundee.
“From Aberdeen Football Club’s point of view, we can only apologise to the supporters that made the trip down to Dundee today. It’s a real sickener for them because it’s been a difficult season already for them in terms of travelling, all across Europe, to the cup final, all over Scotland following the team, so I’m hugely frustrated for them, as well as for the players who have worked hard since the Livingston game to be ready for this one.
“We had 3,500 Aberdeen fans coming here today to roar on the team, so to be told the game is off a most of them are queuing up to get into the stadium is hugely frustrating. Collectively in Scottish football, we need to do better than that.
“I wasn’t here in Dundee earlier today so I can’t comment on the state of things this morning. But what I would say is that I think it’s really incumbent upon all clubs and others to give fans as much notice as they can and if that means having earlier precautionary inspections, so be it.
“Anything you can do to give fans notice that a game might be in danger is the bare minimum that’s required. We’ve got thousands of Aberdeen fans in Dundee now who have travelled well over an hour, sometimes longer, to get here and they’ve been let down. That’s not good enough.
“From my point of view, the earlier you give notice of call offs like this, the better. It’s December, it’s Scotland, it’s going to be cold and wet, we all accept games will be called off from time to time. But what fans expect, especially at this time of the year, is to get notice of it in good time.
“We checked this morning with Dundee about the pitch and the playability of the game given the weather in Aberdeen wasn’t the best, and we were given assurances that they were very confident the game would go on.
“What actually happened is when the referee turned up, about an hour and twenty minutes before the game to do his normal pre-match inspection, he decided it needed a fuller inspection and ultimately deemed it unsafe to play.
“The challenge now is to fit this one in somewhere else in the schedule, when we’re already a couple of games behind. I don’t know when this one will be rearranged for as yet.”
