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Elgin City chairman Alan Murray says Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen will be a landmark occasion for the club and has created a massive buzz in Moray





Saturday’s Scottish Cup tie against Aberdeen is a landmark occasion for Elgin City, says club chairman Alan Murray.

Weeks of planning, after a swift sale of all 4500 tickets and hospitality packages for the Borough Briggs clash will come to fruition when City meet the Dons for the third time in the cup, looking to pull off a major shock.

Elgin City chairman Alan Murray. Picture: Daniel Forsyth
Elgin City chairman Alan Murray. Picture: Daniel Forsyth

Murray praised club staff for their work over the winter period, and hopes they will all be rewarded with what would be the greatest result in Elgin’s history.

“I've got to pay tribute to the staff and the volunteers,” he said. “A lot of them gave up time during the festive period to be at Borough Briggs.

“It’s going to be a great atmosphere on Saturday.

“This is a landmark game in our club's history and you never know a result could make it a great day in our history. So for sure it's a chance.

“Allan (Hale) Stef (Laird) and the players have been outstanding so far this season so for them to get that opportunity to showcase what they've got and what we've been doing all season against top level opposition, it's fantastic.”

Their ground was given a 4,520 safety capacity and every ticket was snapped up, including an allocation of more than 1,700 given to Aberdeen for their travelling support.

“Because obviously as a club of our size, we didn't have advanced ticketing software and all of these things, we had to try and manipulate what we had in front of us with our website and how we would sell our tickets,” Murray revealed.

“We kind of went down a hybrid route with traditional paper tickets but buying them online and collecting them in person. That gave a broad ability for all our supporters, young and old, to be able to make sure they got one.

“We were confident we would sell out the game but potentially when we put the general sale tickets on we maybe didn't think it would sell out in about three hours.

“They went live at midday and the website had crashed within about 20 minutes and I think by 2.30, 3 o'clock that day they were all sold out.

Alan Murray says Saturday’s Scottish Cup match is a landmark for Elgin City. Picture: Daniel Forsyth.
Alan Murray says Saturday’s Scottish Cup match is a landmark for Elgin City. Picture: Daniel Forsyth.

“I mean, that's a phenomenal response, and I think we could have sold more. The hospitality requests were unbelievable as well.

“Comfortably we' have 140 to 160 upstairs for normal hospitality but with over 700 applicants for hospitality, we tried with the silver package over at the town hall as well . That has just enhanced the day to be honest.

“We weren't selected for a live TV game but in hindsight, when we know the weather's going to be decent and it's 3 o'clock on a Saturday I guess there's something about that as well for the supporters.

“January is traditionally a really quiet month so especially for the pubs, hotels, restaurants and shops, they will get a real lift on Saturday, that's for sure.

“Obviously a lot of Aberdeen fans are locally-based as well so it creates a massive buzz I think in the town and that has been great.”


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