Fans flock to central London as Scotland's Euro 2020 clash with England draws closer
Thousands of Scotland supporters have defied warnings not to head to the capital without a ticket
Crowds of football fans have descended on parts of central London in the pouring rain ahead of the meeting between Scotland and England at Wembley tonight.
Hundreds of supporters wearing their country's shirts, flags and kilts have been chanting, singing and playing bagpipes at Leicester Square, Kings Cross and Hyde Park.
The much-anticipated match, the 115th in international football's oldest rivalry, is the first time the two sides have met in a major tournament since Euro 96, when Paul Gascoigne's famous goal, and Gary McAllister’s infamous penalty miss, sealed a 2-0 win for the Auld enemy.
"The message has always been - if you don't have a ticket, don't travel"
Just a handful of the Tartan Army will be allowed into a reduced-capacity of around 22,500 at Wembley, yet thousands more have defied warnings not to travel to London, with no official fan zone in the city for Scotland supporters.
Met Police's football chief, Chief Inspector Joseph Stokoe said: “It's a shame, it feels like there aren't enough places for the fans to enjoy themselves, but that's why the message has always been - if you don't have a ticket, don't travel.
“Enjoy the match, enjoy the event locally, in a safer event... don't come here, because unfortunately because of what's gone on across the world, we've been unable to provide the amount of fan zones you might expect in normal times.”
"We’re allowed to move around the UK and there’s nothing stopping us coming down."
Gregor from Motherwell is among the fans who’ve went to London without a ticket. He told MFR News: “We invested that much time into organising it, hoping the restrictions would be lifted. When it wasn’t we just thought, you know, we’ll just come down and have a weekend away.”
We’re allowed to move around the UK and there’s nothing stopping us coming down. Football aside, we could come down and have a break with our partners so what’s the difference in coming down with a group of guys?”
"We couldn't be any prouder"
Two supporters who will be inside the stadium are Declan Gallagher’s parents Pat and Nadine. They’ve been telling us how proud they are that their son is part of Steve Clarke’s squad: “It’s surreal knowing that this is our first major tournament for 23 years and my son’s part of the squad. It’s a double whammy for us.” Said Nadine.
Pat added: “We’ve never missed a game. Went to Moscow for his first call up, we’ve been everywhere.
“It’s a lifetime dream for him, never mid us. We couldn’t be any prouder.”
Wembley Stadium in north-west London will host 22,500 people for the game at 8pm on Friday.
Fans are predicted to buy 3.4 million pints during the game, while a total of 14.8 million will be sold across England and Scotland on match day, according to estimates by the British Beer and Pub Association.