Billy Dodds believes Caley Thistle would have sold their full Scottish Cup final allocation had the showpiece match stayed in its usual 3pm slot.
Saturday’s final against Celtic has been switched to a 5.30pm kick-off, in order to avoid a clash with the FA Cup final between Manchester City and Manchester United on the same day.
Inverness were initially given an allocation of 10,000 tickets for the Hampden Park final, but have now been forced to hand back a number of unsold briefs – believed to be around 2,500.
Dodds believes the timing of the final has been a major factor in the uptake from Inverness fans being lower than normal.
He added: “I don’t think we’d have been handing as many tickets back with a 3pm kick-off.
“We’d have probably have 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 would definitely have sold our allocation.”
Dodds believes Scottish showpiece should have stayed in traditional slot
Both clubs have taken issue with the scheduling, with Inverness revealing they wrote to the Scottish FA in the wake of their semi-final win over Falkirk in an effort to convince them otherwise.
Dodds, who has experienced Scottish Cup finals with Rangers, Dundee United and Queen of the South, feels the English final should not have been considered when determining the Hampden Park kick-off time.
He said: “The kick-off time is disappointing. I’m not going to shrink and hide from it.
“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 as a player with Rangers.
“I’d have been disappointed on any of those dates – as player, coach or manager – if it wasn’t 3pm.
“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.”
‘I think it could eclipse Darvel against Aberdeen’
Inverness are aiming to pull off arguably the greatest upset in the history of the Scottish Cup, by thwarting Celtic’s efforts to secure a domestic treble.
Earlier in this season’s competition, sixth-tier side Darvel created shockwaves by defeating Aberdeen.
Given the Hoops’ outstanding form, Dodds believes an Inverness win would come as an even greater shock.
He also feels it would cap a remarkable turnaround from his side, who narrowly missed out on the Championship promotion play-offs after injuries had previously threatened to derail their campaign.
Dodds added: “I think it could eclipse Darvel against Aberdeen.
“The cup competition is all about fairytales, miracles – and it has happened already this season.
“And if it happens again, personally it would be brilliant for me, but it would just typify my bunch of players down there and what they have in them.
“To nearly reach the play-offs this year was incredible. I know they had it in them once the squad was fit, but they still had to win the games.
“I was telling every man and his dog that we’d win games when I got my players back, but it might have gone the other way.
“We might have lost games and I look like a fool.
“But I knew they would come good. We got to the Ayr game and ended up losing out.
“That can happen, but the players pulled off a minor miracle to get there.
”I’m hoping to do the same in the final.”
Conversation