Dundee United blast Ibrox chief Charles Green

Last updated : 24 December 2012 By Daily Record

Outraged Dundee United last night told Rangers to get their facts straight after being accused of putting fans at risk.

Ibrox chief executive Charles Green hit out at the Tannadice club at the weekend for their boycott-busting decision to sell tickets direct to Gers supporters for their Scottish Cup clash on February 2.

However, United insist they've been doing the same thing for years with no problems and no objections from Rangers.

And they are furious at the suggestion they or Tayside Police would compromise on safety.

Green - who has officially sanctioned a boycott of the game to appease fans groups - claimed United would have no idea whether the punters buying tickets were genuine Rangers fans or not.

But last night a United spokesman told record Sport: "To suggest that we are compromising fan safety is ludicrous.

"We have made our decision in consultation with Tayside Police and we're sure they would be equally offended at the suggestion they were putting fans at risk.

"A lot of things stated as fact in the past few days have been incorrect at best, particularly in relation to us selling tickets directly.

"For several years now, we've done exactly that - with Rangers' full backing - and there has never been an issue with safety.

"We always sold 2000 tickets to Rangers fans from our club shop, complying with all the SPL guidelines by taking names and addresses for every ticket sold.

"And that's exactly what we intend to do.

"What we're saying is it makes far more sense to allocate a stand to Rangers fans who want to go to the game, rather than have some being tempted to buy tickets for the home end and risk an incident that way."

United also rubbished Green's suggestion that he had volunteered to take over the whole of Tannadice for the game instead, claiming that the unoccupied seats would look bad on television.

The spokesman added: "We were certainly never approached about that - the suggestion is ridiculous anyway.

"To be honest, this is the last thing everyone needs, more fuel poured on this - everyone else in the game is sick of it and realises it's time to move on."