New Aberdeen chief executive Adrian Bevington has called on the club’s supporters to ensure there is no repeat of the pitch invasion or pyrotechnic displays that led to the club being docked 500 tickets for their Premier Sports Cup semi-final against Rangers.
The sanctions were imposed by SPFL chiefs after pyrotechnics were set off and fans spilled onto the pitch following Aberdeen’s penalty shootout cup win at Kilmarnock in the previous round, before Bevington was appointed.
Sanctions expected
Bevington said the club had been expecting the punishment. “We have to deal with it and we will deal with it. It has been addressed internally. We knew it was coming today. It is something we need to deal with, as do most clubs on occasion.”
He added: “It has happened. We just have to try and ensure we don’t have a problem like that going forward because nobody wants that.”
Focus on Hampden
Bevington insisted the loss of tickets would not overshadow the occasion. “It is not something that I am going to dwell on that moving forward. I am looking forward to Hampden for all the right reasons and I am sure we will have a great fanbase there.”
He continued: “Yes, we have lost 500 tickets but we will still have a massive following from Aberdeen there. It is more about what we do on the day and on the pitch.”
Supporters praised
The former Football Association powerbroker said he was confident those who crossed the line were in the minority and that the club has a fanbase it is proud of. “No, I have known about it. I had an understanding of where we were going to be with this one. We have to deal with that.”
He added: “It is important to me that we have a good relationship with the league and FA and more importantly we are really clear that I don’t want to be critical or damning of our supporter base because the vast majority are fantastic and really well-behaved.”
Bevington said he was being careful with his language. “I am being very careful here with my language, so it is not emotional language. I have been around the game a long time. These things do occasionally happen. Do we want to see it again? Of course we don’t.”
He concluded: “My message is that I am absolutely confident that our fans are brilliant and they know how to conduct themselves in the main and generally. We just want to see more of that going forward.”
