John Delaney, chief executive of the Football Association of Ireland, accused his Scottish counterparts yesterday of bad manners in the way they have allocated tickets for next month's Euro 2016 qualifier.
Delaney, who has been at the helm of the FAI since 2005, was appearing on Dublin radio station Today FM when he was asked to respond to the SFA's confirmation on Wednesday that none of the remaining tickets for the Celtic Park clash could be allocated to Republic of Ireland fans for safety reasons.
Delaney said: "That's a joke. They have admitted to us that they have sold tickets to Irish fans in the Scottish area. Even yesterday, they had promised us 3200 tickets. They tried to take 75 of these away to try and increase the buffer zones. We had a battle with them yesterday to get 56 of those back.
"If they were sold out from Scottish fans, I'd accept that. But when they are not sold out and Irish fans are buying tickets in the Scottish area, I don't accept that. I don't think it was good manners by them, to be honest with you."
Delaney, who has been the subject of fierce criticism himself from Irish fans over the allocation of tickets for the November 14 tie, said the FAI would not respond in a tit-for-tat manner ahead of next June's return. "I think we'll be more professional in our dealings with them," he said.
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