Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows has commented on the outrageous decision by Premier Sports to have a midweek game kicking off at 6:15pm. The broadcaster announced today that the holders would kick off on Wednesday 19th October at Fir Park at 6:15pm with Rangers hosting Dundee two hours later.
Burrows moved to clarify the situation for both sides, stating that it was the broadcaster’s decision and one that teams tried to avoid.
Both Motherwell FC & Celtic FC raised concerns around the kick-off time based on the difficulties it will present to supporters wishing to attend the match. We asked the broadcaster to consider having the two live matches, scheduled for that day, run simultaneously on different https://t.co/R0gZzLFcAx
— Alan Burrows (@Alan_Burrows) September 5, 2022
investment in Scottish football, it's a far from ideal scenario for fans of both clubs. We have been reassured that the circumstances surrounding this particular scheduling are extremely rare and unlikely to happen again.
— Alan Burrows (@Alan_Burrows) September 5, 2022
Celtic fans, both attending the match and hoping to watch it on TV, are being sacrificed for the sake of the broadcaster. It is particularly shocking that the clubs have raised these concerns and they’ve been ignored due to have contractual obligations elsewhere. Rather than having Celtic on the Tuesday, they’ve decided to shoehorn both games in – likely for marketing purposes. It is not the first time that they have tried to do this – they tried to play two games at Hampden on the same day.
The Ross-shire CSC left for Paradise on Saturday at 5am, something that they will have been used to for the early kick off at the weekend. However, they (along with a number of supporters outside the Glasgow and the west) will find it impossible to make this kick off time.
Celtic fans suffered last season when they were forced to kick off at 3:30pm in the Europa League Group Stages.
You took the money