Tartan Army descend on London day before Euros grudge match against England
Thousands of Scots have started making their way down to London to watch their country play England in the Euro 2020 football competition.
As the Scottish football team plays its first tournament in 23 years, up to 22,000 fans could take over the capital to watch the game tomorrow at 8pm.
This is on top of the 2,600 people who have tickets to go to the match in person at Wembley.
Usually football fans are able to gather in ‘safe zones’ set up in Hyde Park and Trafalgar Square, but London has not done that this year due to coronavirus restrictions.
Instead, Trafalgar Square will be used as a ticketed, socially distanced fan zone for key workers.
London mayor Sadiq Khan urged those who had not booked or finalised a ‘safe place’ to watch the game to stay at home.
‘It is absolutely fantastic that Scotland are playing in their first international tournament for 23 years and I cannot wait for Friday’s match,’ he said.
‘Scottish fans are renowned around the world for bringing a party atmosphere with them to the big tournaments but with Covid restrictions still in place on both sides of the border, the best thing for fans without tickets to the game or a safe place to watch it is to enjoy the game from Scotland and not come to London.
‘In an ideal world I would welcome the Tartan Army to London for this match with open arms, but with Covid cases increasing, and with so much at stake as we fight this awful virus, I’m afraid that it just cannot be this time, so the best thing to do is not to come to London and instead enjoy the game at home.’
But many worry the decision not to accommodate the Tartan Army will just see Scots ‘wandering’ around London, unable to watch the football.
This ‘would cause trouble’, Roysth Tartan Army supporters club member Sven Lister told MyLondon.
Founder of the Scottish Football Supporters Association, Paul Goodwin, pointed out that Glasgow has managed to created a fan zone seating 6,000 socially distanced people.
He told The Times: ‘There will be plenty of tartan on display as we like coming down and showing off. The fact we have not been part of it [a major tournament] for such a long time is a factor.’
Every single one of the 15 direct train services from Glasgow to London were sold out by Monday.
Similarly, nearly all 17 of Edinburgh’s direct train standard tickets were full too.
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