Billy Dodds has insisted that Inverness wouldn’t have had to hand any of their Scottish Cup ticket allocation back if the kick-off hadn’t been controversially switched to 5.30pm.
Caley Thistle have access to around 7,500 tickets for Saturday’s clash with Celtic but handed 2,500 back - that have since been reallocated elsewhere. The Highlanders had been criticised for not selling out their allocation but manager Dodds reckons moving away from the traditional 3pm kick-off - because it clashed with the FA Cup final - has been a major factor in the poor sales.
Dodds stated: “I don’t think we’d have been handing as many tickets back with a 3pm kick-off. We’d have probably sold another couple of thousand tickets. Whether it was the kick-off time, whether it was the travel, or whether it was ticket prices, it has certainly affected our fans. I’m not saying we’d have sold 20,000, but we’d have definitely sold our allocation. The kick-off time is disappointing. I’m not going to shrink and hide from it.”
Dodds, who lifted the cup with Inverness, believes the Scottish Football Association has sold the game short by moving its showcase event to accommodate the FA Cup. He frustratingly admitted: “As a player, with what this competition means, I’ve always been brought up that the Scottish Cup is your showpiece - as a young boy and then whether I was playing or coaching.
“I’ve been involved with Dundee United and Queen of the South in a Scottish Cup final while coaching and I’ve won the cup with Rangers. I’d have been disappointed on any of those dates - player, coach, manager - if it wasn’t three o’clock.
“It is our country’s showpiece. Should we just hide behind the fact English football has a bigger profile? Just accept that?
“Not for me. Get it out there. There is one half of the Old Firm and ourselves. People want to watch the game. It is our showpiece so to move it? Pretty poor, I’d say.”
