4 Games in 8 days!!!

[ian1964 10,415]

SPL considers Friday afternoon matches in April

 

 

The Scottish Premier League is considering scheduling matches on Friday afternoons in April in an attempt to clear the fixture backlog.

 

SPL secretary Iain Blair is trying to prevent some clubs playing four games in eight days to complete 33 fixtures before the 16 April league split.

 

"We've got Bank Holidays in April - the Friday before Easter, the Friday of the Royal wedding," he told BBC Scotland.

 

"The police have never had a problem with Friday afternoon games."

 

Previously, the police have warned against staging matches on Friday evenings.

 

The SPL and the Scottish Football League have been badly affected by the harsh winter weather that has caused pitches to be frozen and flooded and roads leading to stadia made treacherous.

 

In addition, there have been a series of Scottish Cup replays, and Rangers have enjoyed an extended run in Europe: they face Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on 17 and 24 February.

 

The Ibrox side and Celtic have a Scottish Cup fifth-round replay on Wednesday 2 March and also meet in the final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup on 20 March.

 

Blair hopes all 12 clubs will have fulfilled 33 fixtures by the split in mid-April, although in previous seasons there have been instances of teams playing games in hand after the split.

 

"Dundee United and Hamilton have got a bit of a backlog but most of those games are allocated to various dates," said Blair on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme.

 

"The games that are not allocated are principally the games involving Rangers and that is in part down to waiting to see what happens against Sporting Lisbon and hopefully rounds after that.

 

It is the overall balance that really maintains the integrity of the competition

 

SPL secretary Iain Blair

 

"It will certainly create fixture congestion but if that is caused by the success of a Scottish team in Europe, then I am all for it."

 

The league secretary insists he is not keen for a repeat of Rangers' exertions in 2008, when they faced four matches in eight days, but added that his options are limited.

 

He said: "It is something we try to avoid but we have to get most of the games played up to game 33 so we know who is in the top six and the bottom six so we can produce the fixtures for the next part of the fixtures after the split.

 

"There have been some informal discussions with the clubs affected. There is an appreciation that we will do everything we can to give clubs as much chance as possible in all competitions.

 

"But there is also a realisation that there are only seven days in a week and so many weeks to the split. It is not an ideal situation.

 

"I don't have control over the League Cup or the Scottish Cup or the Europa League.

 

"If there is another way of playing four games in eight days that is the option we will go for."

 

Dundee United, with 20, are the club who have played the fewest games this season while Rangers and Hamilton have each got three rearranged games to play.

 

Asked if the date for the league split could be pushed back from its current slot of Sunday 17 April, Blair added: "The week which contains Wednesday 20 April, immediately after the (Scottish Cup) semi-final, is available. If you push fixture 33 back to the weekend of 23, 24, 25 April it does create a bit of space but it also creates a lot of uncertainty.

 

"We have had some conversations with the police about that possibility. They understand the situation the weather has brought us to and appear willing to work with us."

 

Blair warns against a "knee-jerk reaction" to the problems caused by the winter weather, pointing out that the SPL schedule was rarely disrupted in the eight years prior to the two recent harsh winters that have hit Scotland.

 

And while he describes Scottish Cup replays as "something we could do without", though the decision of member clubs, Blair is keen for clubs affected by fixture congestion to understand that his role is to do what is his best for the league as a whole.

 

He said: "What I have to try to do is to look at it from all 12 clubs point of view at the same time and it may well be that the best overall balance for all 12 actually means that there are one or two or three that, from their perspective, feel as if there has been a disadvantage.

 

"It is the overall balance that really maintains the integrity of the competition."

[metlika 0]

Pandering to the masses with that, making Scottish football even more of a joke if they start Friday afternoon games.

[Totti 0]

"The Police have never had a problem with Friday afternoon games"...LOL no shit.

[Gribz 743]

This is what happens when you don't maintain your stadium and defend deep against teams with 10 men....

 

Was thinking that with the stadium, if we had maintained that then it would have cleared a game.

 

However like Stewarty, got to remain the optimist...perhaps this is a bit of karma for 2008 and we go on to win the treble by playing these 4 games in 8 days.

 

That said surely its a no brainer to call out and get the League Cup completed by October like it used to be from now on.

[johnnyk 158]

Just means the weekend starts a bit earlier if they are played on Friday afternoons

[Totti 0]

The SFA have announced pure speshul plans to help Rangers in their European hopes. Due to the fixture backlog Rangers will be playing SPL games on any day ending in a Y.

 

I'll get my coat.