Pitch invasions, Covid chaos and heartwarming fairytales... it's all in the life of a cup final commentator!

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HIGH up, in the BBC television studio overlooking Hampden, Hibs fan Pat Nevin attempted to be the voice of reason.

‘There’s an argument that it’s 114 years of frustration bubbling over,’ he said. Former Hibs midfielder Michael Stewart interjected: ‘It is what it is outside, and I think we should be focusing on what was a great game of football.’

My third Sportscene guest wasn’t sure what to say. And Ronald de Boer didn’t usually struggle in that department.

It was the aftermath of the 2016 Scottish Cup final between Rangers and Hibs and it certainly was a challenge to find the right words to explain how a mood of celebration had quickly descended into an atmosphere of chaos.

Euphoric Hibs supporters, watching their team land the old trophy for the first time since 1902, invaded the pitch and quickly covered it. For most, it was party time, a release of all that pent-up emotion. There was, of course, a mad minority who ran to the Rangers end to confront the rival support. And there was worryingly little to stop them.

You don’t need me to remind you what happened next. By the time order was restored, and it appeared to happen in slow motion, police horses had made their first Hampden appearance since 1980 and we were 40 minutes beyond the final whistle, still waiting for the prizegiving.

Police keep a watchful eye over events as Hibs fans storm the Hampden turf in 2016

Rob Maclean has seen it all in his lengthy career as TV commentator and studio host

Hibs ended a 114-year Scottish Cup hoodoo when they defeated Rangers 3-2 to take the trophy

Why am I reminding you of all this? Mail Sport asked me to take a trip down cup final memory lane and tell some tales from the television commentary box or, in this case, the studio.

It’s BBC Scotland’s biggest football show of the season by far. It gets a huge viewing audience and I’ve always loved being involved in it. How many have I worked on? I didn’t honestly have a clue until I had a dig through the archives.

Seventeen is the answer, either side of my five years fronting live Scottish football for Setanta. Eleven as TV presenter and six as the commentator.

The reason I’ve picked out Hibs’ historic Scottish Cup win for starters is because it was probably the most difficult final I’ve worked on.

Those 40 minutes between Steven McLean’s whistle ending the match and the trophy eventually being handed over felt like four hours.

Not, obviously, that we were short of anything to say. But how do you pitch it when a massive sports story becomes a giant news story as well? You’re always going to take some stick, that’s for sure, whatever you do. Everyone has his or her own opinion on balancing the after-match conversation.

David Gray, currently in caretaker charge at Easter Road, heads his extra-time winner in 2016

Supporters couldn't contain their delight at seeing their club FINALLY end the drought

Police horses were called in as things threatened to get out of hand in front a stunned nation

Hibs’ century-plus wait to win the competition was what the big-match build-up had been all about. And those long years of pain for everyone connected with the club were ended by David Gray’s stoppage-time header for a 3-2 win.

If only the cup-final narrative had ended there rather than spilling over into confrontation, violence and fear that the situation could escalate into something even worse. For a while, too long, it seemed out of control.

We wanted to speak about football and the momentous result. That’s why we were there. But every glance at the television monitor showed those shocking scenes. Every time you looked over your shoulder, out the studio window, the view was grim.

Finally, the pitch was cleared, the Rangers end emptied and the Hibs fans went back to where they were meant to be. Alan Stubbs and his players squeezed themselves into the presentation area to receive the trophy. There was never going to be a lap of honour but the supporters belted out one of my favourite football anthems, Sunshine On Leith. We ended the programme talking about football and trying to blot out the images that were stuck inside our heads.

If that was my most difficult final, there’s no doubt which one was the most bizarre experience. An empty Hampden for the 2020 edition during Covid. Delayed from May, it took place five days before Christmas.

No cosy studio for this one. The guests, including former Celtic gaffer Martin O’Neill and then Scotland women’s manager Shelley Kerr, had to keep their distance and were carefully positioned at the back of the North Stand. They were so far away from me that, even without crowd noise, I needed my TV earpiece to catch what they were saying.

The 2020 cup final between Hearts and Celtic was played just FIVE days before Christmas

Covid restrictions were still in play as winning boss Lennon was directed to the celebrations

A fresh-faced Maclean in 2009, searching for the next big football story to break to the nation

During the game, though, with nothing to drown them out, you could hear every word the players were shouting and everything being screamed at them from the touchline. It was all echoing around the stadium. Strange didn’t begin to describe it.

It was a real shame there were no fans in the ground. It was a six-goal epic including extra-time and penalties. Celtic beat Hearts in the shoot-out to complete a quadruple Treble.

Hearts had been the winners in my first broadcasting experience of the Scottish Cup final. It was 1998, I was television commentator and, as I settled into the hot seat, I probably didn’t need a penalty being given after only 30 seconds. Colin Cameron scored and Hearts beat Rangers 2-1 to land their first serious silverware in 36 years.

I only discovered relatively recently that one of my lines in the lead-up to Stephane Adam’s winning goal: ‘Amoruso lets it run’, had become the title of a Hearts fans’ video archive website.

That was a big win for the Tynecastle team but they had won it before. When St Johnstone and Inverness Caley Thistle won the Scottish Cup, back to back, it was their first-ever major trophy successes and it was a joy to be in the studio for both finals, hosting the show.

The Perth Saints had waited 130 years for that moment. The two Stevens, Anderson and MacLean, scored the goals that helped them beat Dundee United 2-0 at Celtic Park in 2014.

St Johnstone's cup win in 2015 was their first. Incredibly they would repeat it six years later

Inverness Caledonian Thistle stars celebrate their Hampden high after winning in 2016

The last Old Firm final came 22 years ago, with Peter Lovenkrands netting an extra-time winner

Any proud Highlander, like me, will tell you that Inverness had existed for only 20 years when they won their maiden major honour the following season. John Hughes’ team, having knocked out Celtic in the semi-finals, beat Falkirk 2-1 back at Hampden, thanks to James Vincent’s late winner.

Old Firm Scottish Cup finals don’t come around too often. Today’s will be only the third in 35 years. The other two were more than two decades ago but only three seasons apart and I was behind the mic for both, sampling the love-it-or-hate-it high-octane atmosphere.

In 1999, Rod Wallace scored the only goal of the game as Rangers completed a Treble at the end of the David Murray-appointed Dick Advocaat’s first season in charge.

The 2002 showdown was an even more star-studded line-up on both sides. Larsson, Caniggia, Hartson, Ferguson, Sutton, Amoruso to name but half a dozen of the players on show. Peter Lovenkrands’ sharply-taken second goal, ten seconds before the final whistle, gave Rangers their 30th Scottish Cup success.

Then, like now, they’d been chasing a cup double. Then, like now, Celtic were bidding to add more silverware to their title win.

Philippe Clement would love to see history repeating itself but Rangers have lost three out of four against Celtic this season and even their Ibrox draw last month required a late equaliser. Brendan Rodgers’ team have their swagger back, they’ve lost only once since mid-December and have to be strong favourites to end the season on a high.