Celtic and Inverness CT 'disappointed' by Scottish Cup final kick-off switch

Celtic and Inverness Caledonian Thistle say they are "disappointed" after the Scottish Cup final kick-off time was moved forward to 17:30 to avoid a clash with the FA Cup final.

The English game between Manchester City and Manchester United has a 15:00 BST kick-off at Wembley on 3 June.

Both Scottish finalists would have preferred to remain at the same time.

But the Scottish FA preferred to move its showpiece, which will be shown live on BBC Scotland and Viaplay.

• Women's Scottish Cup final on BBC One Scotland

"We would like to thank all parties for their support in ensuring a slot commensurate with Scottish football's showpiece occasion," the governing body said.

Celtic reached the final by defeating city rivals Rangers 1-0 in Sunday's semi-final after Championship promotion hopefuls Inverness beat Falkirk 3-0 on Saturday.

The Glasgow club, who have already lifted the League Cup and are one win away from retaining the league title, 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."

Caley Thistle's statement said they too are "obviously very disappointed".

"We made this known to the SFA last Thursday and we reiterated our view in writing on Sunday following our semi-final win at the weekend," they said. "It is certainly not in the interest of both sets of fans and, as we know, our own supporters will be greatly inconvenienced by the travel challenges they now face.

"Unfortunately, we could not effect the final decision to move the match. We were awaiting the match details and now hope to make ticket information known in the next 24 hours."

The cup final will be shown live on BBC One Scotland and iPlayer, with the Sportscene programme also having a half-hour build-up on the BBC Scotland channel.

If the FA Cup final goes to extra-time and penalties, the Scottish Cup will start on BBC Scotland and move to BBC One Scotland when the former is finished.

A spokesperson for BBC Scotland said: "The kick off time was announced by the SFA after discussions with all parties. Both cup finals are hugely popular with our audiences and we are now able to offer licence fee payers the possibility of watching them both live."

There will also be live coverage on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme, BBC Sounds, the BBC Sport Scotland website and the BBC Sport app.