Aberdeen winger Niall McGinn believes the Scottish Cup can start a new Scottish season in style.
The Northern Ireland international knows hopes of finishing the current league campaign are fading with the SPFL due to inform Uefa of their plans for this season later this month but McGinn believes the Scottish Cup semi-finals and final can be held over to next term.
The Dons had a Hampden date with Celtic to look forward to while the other semi-final featured an Edinburgh derby between Hibernian and Hearts before play was stopped due to the coronavirus.
But McGinn remains hopeful the national cup competition can be played to a finish at a later date.
He said: “The league and cup are different and hopefully the decision on the league, whether we play the games or it’s called off will hopefully be decided soon enough.
“I know there’s a meeting with Uefa but I think the Scottish Cup semi-final and final definitely have to be played.
“It could be our first couple of games back next season if this season is finished and those games could be mixed in with Europe and the first few league games.
“Regardless I think the Scottish Cup needs to be finished.”
SFA president Rod Petrie has also expressed his desire to see the competition played to a finish even it takes until 2021 to play the matches.
Closed door matches will be the new normal when football does return but McGinn remains hopeful fans will be able to attend the glamour cup ties.
He said: “There’s probably no rush with the cup – but ideally you want to play in front of the fans and you want to do well in the cups to win it in front of the fans.
“The big attraction is getting to Hampden and playing in a packed stadium and that’s why you want to play in semi-finals and finals.
“Maybe the European places and games can be sorted out and it can be fitted in at some point around them.
“I don’t think there is a rush to play the semi-final and final as long as it doesn’t affect next year’s League Cup and Scottish Cup.”
An update on whether players can resume training on June 10 will be made in the coming weeks and McGinn is hoping for some positive news.
He said: “When you know what you’re training towards it’s obviously better for everyone. If you’re training and you don’t know what you’re working towards it’s frustrating.
“We’ll still have to keep ourselves ticking over. Ideally you’d want it to be before then, but we can’t say how it will pan out in the next couple of months.”
