- Hampden Park to host first Old Firm Scottish Cup final in 22 years in May
- City and United will play a replay of last year’s FA Cup final on the same day.
- Nottingham Forest have lost their sympathy after three difficult decisions – Listen to the Podcast Everything is beginning
The Scottish Cup final will go head to head with the FA Cup final at 3pm on Saturday 25 May.
Celtic and Rangers are scheduled to meet in the first Old Firm Scottish Cup final in 22 years, at the same time as Manchester City take on arch-rivals Manchester United at Wembley.
And Mail Sport understands there is no appetite for a repeat of the fierce row sparked after the SFA changed last season’s finale at Hampden to 5.30pm to avoid a ratings clash with Manchester’s clash in London.
Finalists Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle issued statements criticizing the decision, while Holyrood Sports Committee MSPs wrote to the governing body claiming the decision set a “dangerous precedent” and urged them to reconsider.
The SFA said the later kick-off was designed to give the match “the widest possible audience” following a request from the BBC.
Last year’s Scottish Cup final was moved to a later date to avoid clashing with the FA Cup final.
Celtic secured a place in the Scottish Cup final with a penalty shootout victory over Aberdeen last weekend.
While the corporation holds the live rights to broadcast the finals on both sides of the border once again, the SFA would prefer to avoid a repeat of last year’s conflict with another rescheduling request deemed unlikely.
Police Scotland would also be reluctant to approve a later start time for the Glasgow derby at Hampden.
Last year’s uproar arose when the English FA brought forward the start time of the FA Cup final from 5.15pm to 3pm for the first time since 2011 on police advice.
With tens of thousands of fans arriving in London from Manchester, the Metropolitan Police are in favor of a 3pm kick-off to reduce the chance of trouble and the same kick-off time is expected to be confirmed later this week later. of talks between the FA, the police, Brent Council and television rights holders BBC and ITV.
To complicate matters, there is a European Rugby Cup final starting at Tottenham Hotspur’s stadium at 2.45pm, which ITV had hoped to broadcast live.
Rangers set up the first Old Firm final since 2002 when Cyriel Dessers scored twice in a 2-0 win over Hearts.
Brendan Rodgers’ Celtic booked their place in the final by defeating Aberdeen 6-5 on penalties after a thrilling 3-3 draw at Hampden on Saturday.
Rangers were in their first Old Firm final since 2002, when Cyriel Dessers scored twice in a 2-0 win over Hearts the following afternoon.
The Hampden clash will be broadcast live on Premier Sports and the BBC.
