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Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle will meet on June 3 at Hampden Park in the Scottish Cup final but, in an all-too-familiar story, fans have been shortchanged and inconvenienced by the powers that be.

As things currently stand, the game looks set to be played at a highly unusual 5.30pm kick-off, an announcement which has attracted - at best - a mixed response from those invested in either team involved in the showpiece game.

It was a reasonable expectation that the fixture will take place at the usual time of 3pm - but that will not be the case this season.

The affected clubs have spoken out against the move, with Celtic and Inverness issuing statements almost instantly after the announcement was made. Their disappointment was evident by the language and tone used, indicating that the move will inconvenience both sets of fans. 

Celtic said: "We are hugely disappointed that the Scottish Cup Final has been moved from its traditional 3pm slot, something we don’t believe was necessary, or in the best interests of both sets of supporters.

"Additionally, there was no meaningful consultation with Celtic on this matter, in terms of assessing the many issues affecting supporters attending the match - something which is also extremely regrettable."

Both clubs are unified in their motion of disapproval. It is understood the reason for this choice of time slot is because of the all-Manchester FA Cup final, which is scheduled to take place at 3pm on the same day.

Irish and other foreign-based Celtic supporters travelling over for the game are now in a difficult situation to get home after the final and the same can be said for Inverness fans given the length of their journey north.

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Now, it's worth highlighting that, of course, there will be interest for many in the game taking place south of the border that day, with both Manchester clubs facing each other for the first time in an FA Cup final. However, moving the kick-off time due to events happening just under 400 miles away is unprecedented and shows a lack of backbone by the governing body running our game. Isn't our game and those who make it special, the fans, important to them?

Surely the SFA should be backing their showpiece event, especially with a historic game looking likely. There are so many narratives that can be drawn from this event, such as Celtic going for a world-record eighth domestic treble and how they are looking to exact revenge over their opponents after their controversial 2015 semi-final loss in the same venue. 

Even for Inverness, Viaplay Sports and BBC Scotland could play the potential giant-killing card in their coverage to drum up intrigue and divert eyes from the Manchester Derby occurring down south, with the Highland side a division below their all-conquering opponents in terms of league position.

It again displays the stranglehold that TV has over Scottish football as a whole. As a country who are absolutely obsessed with the beautiful game and everything involved with it, we surely deserve better than to be an mild distraction after the English guys tangle in the 'big one'.

In far too many instances, the all-powerful and mighty broadcasters have essentially called the shots on what transpires in the domestic game, which negatively affects the supporters who are the fall guys in this situation.

READ MORE: History tells us Celtic are further ahead of Rangers than many realise

Notable examples of these instances directly influenced by the broadcasters involve early kick-offs, which means travelling fans and supporters having to purchase pay-per-view streams from rival clubs as they have no way of watching the game legally other than having a ticket and physically being at the game.

In terms of the latter point, supporters not willing or able to pay this additional fee may, in turn, look to illegal methods to watch their team, which opens up a whole new can of worms.

Even the excuse of the archaic media blackout rule cannot be used here, as both games would have been allowed to be televised if the 3pm time was agreed upon. This again points to the intervention from broadcasters who are seemingly hell-bent on avoiding a clash between their all-important Wembley clash and Celtic's match at Hampden.

Unfortunately for supporters, who should be excited and geared up for another chance at Hampden silverware, they have been pushed aside in favour of the wants and needs of TV companies.

We deserve better.

This piece is an extract from the latest Celtic Digest newsletter, which is emailed out every weekday evening with a round-up of the day's top stories and exclusive analysis from The Celtic Way team.

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