Bid to cut match day cops.

SCOTLAND'S biggest police force want to dramatically reduce officer numbers at football matches.

The ambitious proposals will also see responsibility for safety at grounds shift from Strathclyde Police to the clubs.

But the move has sparked fears that Celtic, Rangers, St Mirren, Kilmarnock and Motherwell would face a massively inflated policing bill.

And yesterday, the Strathclyde Police Authority told the Chief Constable to come up with a more detailed plan.

Last night, senior officers dismissed fears that clubs would face bigger bills.

Report author Chief Superintendent Robin Howe, match commander at Ibrox, said: "We do not envisage that the cost of policing will increase.

Low-risk "And in actual fact, if its done properly and risk assessed properly, then the number of police officers being deployed at football will decrease.

"In all honesty everyone, hand on heart, can say there have been too many officers sent to football."

For a low-risk match, such as Rangers v Falkirk, only one officer is required for every 1000 supporters. The new strategy could see this number halved to one officer per 2000 fans.

Councillors were told cop numbers for high-risk games such as Old Firm matches were likely to remain the same.

In 2007-8 the total shelled out by the force for policing football matches was pounds 4,868,666.

But the clubs were only charged pounds 1,438,929.

The shortfall, more than pounds 3.4million, was met by the force.

Assistant Chief Constable John Neilson said security officers employed by clubs will be trained to allow them to take over the police role inside stadiums.

The Policing Authority called for a more comprehensive report for their August meeting.

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PROPOSAL: Howe