It’s for the good of Scottish football don’t you know? Well, that’s what we’re expected to swallow.
It appears it’s a case of ‘ask and you shall receive’ as theRangers – altruistically of course – request some assistance and a rejigging of fixtures ahead of their Europa League semi-final first leg with RB Leipzig, after all some extra preparation time isn’t just about helping the Ibrox club it’s about assisting Scottish football too, just like on all those occasions that they opened up the gates at Murray Park to any European opposition preparing for a game at Celtic Park. All for the good of Scottish football and all that stuff.
You know just like when there was a vote to bring forward the winter break for the good of Scottish football and theRangers voted against it, or the financial good a deal with a rival used car outfit does for Scottish Football which theRangers chose not to engage with – due in no way to Douglas Park owning a competing firm and needing every inch of sponsorship space to keep the lights on at Ibrox.
And it appears, according to Keith Jackson over at Daily Record, all the Ibrox club is waiting on is Police approval for theRangers Sunday clash with Motherwell to be brought forward 24 hours to the Saturday. With the ‘Well and Sky TV already giving their blessing, you’d assume a green light from the polis is a given.
‘Record Sport understands Motherwell have agreed to rearrange Sunday’s top flight showdown with the Ibrox men and broadcasters Sky are also happy for the match to go ahead 24 hours earlier than originally scheduled. Van Bronckhorst has asked for the game to be rescheduled to give his side an extra day to prepare for a first leg semi-final showdown with RB Leipzig in Germany on Thursday night. The clash with Graham Alexander’s men now looks set to be moved to a Saturday lunchtime slot but no announcement can be made until it has been signed off by the cops.’
To be fair to the SPFL here they may have bowed to pressure but they’ve not given theRangers exactly what they were chasing. After all it’s a Glasgow Derby the new club really wanted shifting, but this way the SPFL look like they’ve offered assistance whilst also giving them a wee slap around the chops, knowing full well Celtic would not be as accommodating as Motherwell should they have been asked.
And rightly so, as it’s more than Celtic received in 2003 as the Hoops fought on the domestic and European front, and more than any other club chasing European success has been offered in my lifetime, including Aberdeen and Dundee United who both contested European finals in the 1980s.
Indeed, to my recollection the only other time assistance like this has been offered was in 2008 when another Scottish side – now defunct – playing out of Ibrox was permitted a Scottish season extension resulting in a league campaign concluding on a glorious Thursday night. Even then they weren’t happy as they demanded a second extension to the season which was rejected.
I guess we shouldn’t be surprised, despite theRangers thumbing their nose at the greater good for Scottish football all season, that the SPFL would bow to their demands in some form or another. After all the Ibrox club have Doncaster et al over something of a five-way barrel, don’t they? As such it’s a bit of a cinch to ensure when you ask you are all but guaranteed to receive.
And a few final thoughts on Sunday’s game. Remember Kyogo scoring that goal at Celtic Park against Hearts at the end of last year? You know, the one that Sky Sports could not determine whether it was on or offside? All hell broke loose after that and the Head of Referees even appeared on the radio to express his own angst at the flag failing to be raised.
The winner at Hampden on Sunday was marginally offside. That the linesman missed it is perfectly understandable but where is the media outrage, the discussion, the Head of Referees coming out and acknowledging another error – remember the first no-one was really sure but that didn’t stop him did it?
And on the referee. When theRangers were unhappy with both Willie Collum and Kevin Clancy they made their frustrations clear to the Scottish FA and in both instances the referees in question – remember they even mentioned Collum’s background – were not given their match for a very long time afterwards. So if Celtic want to ensure that we don’t have to deal with Bobby Madden’s bias for the foreseeable, a letter to the SFA is all that is required. That’s how it works, right?
Niall J
Watch this…
There’s little chance of getting Crawford Allen on a media platform to discuss the performance of Bobby Madden.
He was in Boston for the Marathon,when the 2 Semi Finals were taking place.
Jakers..stopped listening after 3 minutes. Painful. please, please learn how to pronounce Tom Rogic’s surname. Show’s no respect for T.R. You are worse than Big Packie!
Pronounced with soft “G”….followed by “itch”
It’s a hard “G” followed by an “itch” as in “Rawgitch”, not “Rawjick” or “Rawjitch”.
We did get a rearranged fixture in 2003. The game against Dundee was brought forward from the Saturday to give us a full week to prepare for the Final in Seville