THE East Kilbride cup tie against Celtic at New Douglas Park which never was was an utterly bizarre affair of the kind that surely only Scottish football could contrive to throw up.

Mercifully, the peculiar episode was swiftly resolved and the Scottish Cup last 16 match will go ahead as scheduled at the Excelsior Stadium this Sunday.

Yet, events reflected badly on many of those involved – not least Hamilton who somehow took fully five days to make it known that, in actual fact, their stadium wasn’t available to host the fixture after all.

It was incumbent upon East Kilbride to arrange alternative venues for the fifth round tie with the Scottish champions and present them to the SFA before their match with Lothian Thistle Hutchison Vale on Wednesday night under competition rules.

Their opponents certainly had no difficulty doing so. The East of Scotland League club had agreed with Livingston to use the Toni Macaroni Arena in the event they got through.

That East Kilbride put forward New Douglas Park without receiving a cast-iron guarantee from Hamilton that it could stage the game was responsible for much of the confusion and controversy.

By all accounts, there was only a loose verbal agreement between the two parties that, should the Lowland League club win their fourth round match at the K-Park, Hamilton would have a look at whether they could accommodate them.

But that it took the Premiership club to reveal – via a story posted on their official club website - until last Monday that they wouldn’t be able to when the initial decision was made public by the SFA on Thursday was simply staggering. It also smacked distinctly of sour grapes.

East Kilbride had publicly stated that they didn’t want to play at the Lanarkshire venue, that they had safety concerns for spectators there and that it was their seventh choice for the game.

It was all a bit ill-advised. New Douglas Park is an excellent facility which is perfect for Hamilton and serves the local area well. Indeed, the reason eventually given for it being unable to host the game was that they had “a full programme of academy, youth and community events planned”.

Still, Hamilton’s conduct here was unfortunate to say the least. It looked very much as if, having seen and heard their stadium being slagged off in public for several days, they took the huff.

The East Kilbride game against Celtic will be a fabulous occasion. That a non-league club which has only been in existence for around five years should take on one of the biggest clubs in Europe is exactly what the Scottish Cup is all about.

The high heid yins at Hamilton should perhaps have been more understanding of the size and inexperience of the club they were dealing with in this instance. A simple phone call would have avoided a brouhaha which did nothing for the reputation of our national game.

AND ANOTHER THING . . .

CHARLIE Telfer’s contentious departure from Rangers in the summer of 2014 was, for many supporters, a further indication of why Ally McCoist wasn’t up to the task of managing the Ibrox club.

Telfer, who was just 18 at the time, declined the offer of a new contract because he was unhappy at a lack of first team opportunities and joined Dundee United for a fee an independent SPFL tribunal later set at £204,000.

A sizeable section of the Rangers support was of the opinion at the time that McCoist was wholly to blame for the loss of an exceptional prospect who had, despite his tender years, been with them for no fewer than 12 years. It was claimed he was too conservative to take chance on an unproven youngster.

That argument was a flimsy one given his willingness to promote Lewis Macleod to his first team at the age of just 17 and his subsequent shrewd handling of the prodigiously talented midfielder’s embryonic career.

What, I wonder, did those who claimed McCoist should have fielded him more often have to say when United, still rooted to the bottom of the Premiership, loaned Telfer to Livingston, currently second bottom in the Championship, until the end of the 2015/16 campaign last week?

Telfer has enjoyed some outstanding games since at Tannadice and was named SPFL Young Player of the Month in 2014. He is still just 20 and has a long career in the professional game lying ahead of him.

But to state that he should have been a regular starter at Rangers two years ago and castigate the manager for declining to name the teenager in his starting line-up every week was, quite frankly, laughable.

ONE LAST THING

CONGRATULATIONS to Ross County for their richly-deserved 3-1 win over Celtic in a quite astonishing League Cup semi-final at rain-soaked Hampden yesterday.

It is incredible to think that if they defeat Hibs at the same venue in March that both the League Cup and the Scottish Cup trophies will reside in the Highlands.

It is just 22 years now since the newly-amalgamated Inverness Caledonian Thistle and County were granted entry to a new expanded Scottish Football League. The progress made by both clubs since has been nothing short of remarkable.