Caley Thistle manager John Robertson insists his club do want to play their Scottish Cup semi-final at Hampden.
The Inverness manager is unhappy at reports stating he believes his side’s semi-final next month against either Partick Thistle or Hearts would be a better spectacle if played away from the National Stadium and was quick to make his position clear yesterday.
The Inverness boss dismissed the presentation of his comments in a radio interview as lazy journalism and was quick to set the record straight.
He said: “People seem to have jumped on me saying I don’t want to play at Hampden. That’s nonsense, we want to go to Hampden.
“What I said was if, and it’s a big if at the moment, Hearts might want to play the game at Easter Road as it would give them a big advantage but we want to play at the National Stadium.
“Would the atmosphere be great? No, it probably wouldn’t, but we’ll be pushing for the semi-final to be played at Hampden.
“The venue could be moved, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that. The League Cup semi-finals were contractually obliged to be played at Hampden but that didn’t happen.
“There have been semi-finals played at Tynecastle and Easter Road so it’s not a precedent.
“But we want it at Hampden.”
For now, the Scottish Cup semi-final can wait as Robertson urges his players to focus on their push for a play-off place in the Scottish Championship.
Due to Caley Thistle’s cup exploits they have fallen out of the top four in Scotland’s second tier and slipped to fifth place behind Dunfermline, who have played a game more.
Inverness return to league duty when they travel to Palmerston Park to face a Queen of the South side which has slipped to seventh place and Robertson has called for a strong finish to the season from his side as they bid to claim one of the three play-off spots on offer.
He said: “We have to put the cup to the back of our minds and hang in there in the league and get that last play-off spot.
“Every team in this Championship is a wounded animal. Falkirk and Partick have spent a lot of money bringing in players as they need to stay in this league while Alloa have picked up.
“Four weeks ago you would have tipped Queen of the South to clinch this play-off spot but that’s how quickly it can change.
“Our destiny is in our own hands and we know if we can put together a five or six game winning run we can force our way into the play-offs and that’s what we are aiming to get to.”
