Ian Maxwell responds to Scottish Cup Final critics and says SFA actually WANTED 3pm kick-off
IAN MAXWELL insists the SFA DID want this year's Scottish Cup Final to kick off as normal at 3pm - as he admitted clashing with the FA Cup Final in England was a deciding factor.
Celtic will take on Inverness Caledonian Thistle at Hampden on June 3, but instead of the usual 3pm slot the showpiece fixture will start at 5.30pm.
SunSport revealed earlier this month how SFA bosses were considering breaking from tradition and moving the kick-off time.
Talks took place over a lunchtime kick-off but in the end it was decided a later start time was the way to go.
Fans weren't happy but SFA chief executive Maxwell has defended the decision and said it was to ensure the game had its "own breathing space", given there is the Women's Champions League Final as well as the FA Cup Final (between Manchester City and Manchester United) on the same day.
He expressed fears our game would lose out on viewers by going up against those two matches.
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Maxwell said: "The Scottish FA's preference was for three o'clock on a Saturday.
"There are obviously external factors that play a part in any decision about kick-off times and kick-off times have changed. No longer is every game kick-off at three o'clock, there are games played at various times.
"It's the end of our Week of Football, it's very much a flagship competition for us. It signals the end of the Scottish season. We want to give it as much airtime in its own space as possible.
"The English FA Cup Final is on at three o'clock, the Women's Champions League Final is at three o'clock. So you have a decision to make: do you go up against them and diminish the competition and reduce the viewership that you could get across the UK or do you move it and try and give it its own breathing space? That's what we decided to do.
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"We would have preferred it at three o'clock but in terms of the gravitas and the scale we can showcase the game, we felt moving it gave us the best opportunity to do that.
"We engaged with Inverness before the decision was made, they were happier with a later kick-off than an earlier kick-off.
"I am delighted they have recently announced their agreement with Scotrail that will see them put on additional transport to make sure everyone can get back home - and that's been a positive."
As Maxwell detailed talks with Inverness, Celtic were quick to say at the time that they had "no meaningful dialogue" with the blazers at Hampden.
But Maxwell said: "There was dialogue, there is always dialogue. There are multiple stakeholders involved in these decisions and ultimately someone has to make the call and that's down to us as the competition organiser.
"I don't think there's fan consultation in any other change of kick-off time that happens across the sporting environment."
Many fans see the moving of the Scottish Cup Final from its usual timeslot as a sign of the SFA diminishing the Scottish game by pandering to what other nations or competitions do.
Maxwell responded: "There's a reality about it. I don't agree that it's not as big as the FA Cup Final because the FA Cup Final has moved historically to a half five kick-off.
"I don't think that means that they are saying their competition is not as big as ours because we are three o'clock on a Saturday.
"The reality is that kick-off times change, it's about making sure that anybody who wants to watch the game can watch the game. We would have been scheduled to go up against a Manchester derby.
"I think you would be foolish to ignore it because it's obviously going to have an impact on people watching the game and we want as many people to watch our cup final as possibly can.
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"We are on a regular basis compared with what's happening across the border, we live next to one of the biggest footballing nations in the world and we need to deal with that.
"I don't think it diminishes it, I think giving it its own breathing space and its own time to make sure everyone across the UK that wants to watch it can watch it is the right thing to do."
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