There may not be a full house for Morton’s semi-final against Aberdeen, in fact, the national stadium may not even be half-full.

For Cappielow director Warren Hawke though, there was no question that the glamour tie had to be played at Hampden Park.

Despite having the option of taking the game to a smaller venue, he says the prestige of playing at the spiritual home of Scottish football took precedence for all of those connected with his club.

“If there was a venue in the West of Scotland that was 25-30000 that would be great, but where Scottish football is a little bit stuck is that we have some phenomenal venues for 20-odd thousand, then we’ve got the three biggies at 50000 plus, and I think there is a gap in the market for something in-between.

“I was in the meeting when we were deciding on the venues, and we did have the option to go to Easter Road, but how can I ask our supporters to get in a car, a bus or a train and go past the home of Scottish football, the iconic venue, to travel to the other side of the country at additional expense when they’ve already got to pay more for their match-day tickets?

“I just feel on a general level that ok, Hampden isn’t going to be full, but that is the iconic home of Scottish football, and I personally felt it would be better to have the game there.

“I did a lot of research among a lot of people. I spoke to the manager, the players, supporters and people from the supporters’ clubs, and the consensus of opinion was that it had to be Hampden.”

Although Hampden has come in for criticism for lacking atmosphere when not packed to the gunnels, Hawke is hoping a mass exodus from Greenock can liven up the occasion.

“I think we would have taken less supporters through to Easter Road, I don’t think there’s any doubt about that,” he said.

“I just felt that we want to take as many people as possible, and I want to create a feeling of ‘last one out, turn off the lights’.

“That’s a hashtag we’ve been using on our Twitter and ultimately that’s what we want to do, take as many people as possible to a venue that is half an hour down the road and is the home of Scottish football.”