Celtic have confirmed the new dates for the postponed festive period fixtures after the SPFL approved the decision to bring forward the winter break. Despite opposition from Ibrox, Celtic’s request was overwhelmingly approved by the top-flight clubs. Now, the club have updated fans on the new arrangements for games.
In an update on the club website, Celtic have confirmed that the games against Hibernian, originally slated for 29th of December, and Rangers, originally scheduled on 2nd of January 2022, have been rescheduled. The game against Hibernian will be played on Monday 17th of January kicking off at 7:45pm. Then, the game against Rangers will take place on the 2nd of February 2022 with a 7:45pm kick-off at Celtic Park.
The decision was taken to support the fans of clubs that had been targetted by new rules from Holyrood to limit stadiums to just 500 fans. First Minister Nicola Sturgeon made the announcement earlier this week, Celtic were joined by other clubs in lobbying for the governing body to bring forward the two-week break in January in order to ensure that the games are able to be taken in by supporters.
Celtic will likely benefit from the decision in terms of having players back from injury but this applies to all teams and not solely the newly crowned League Cup Winners. Ange Postecoglou is looking to sign a few players ahead of the return to action but before that, he will look at winning at McDiarmid Park on Sunday.
