ian1964 10,377 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 WALTER SMITH insists the SPL's failure to help ease Rangers' fixture congestion sufficiently led to Celtic winning the championship as much as anything. In their 67th game of an extraordinary season, the Light Blues lost the title race as they were beaten 2-0 by Aberdeen at Pittodrie. Ally McCoist, Walter Smith and Kenny McDowallThe match was Gers' third in six days and now they have a gap of just 41 hours in which to prepare for Saturday's Scottish Cup final with Queen of the South. Smith's men have already played eight times since May began and the league's refusal to extend the season further because of Rangers' European commitments has cost them. The Ibrox manager has made his stance on the situation clear already and he feels better handling of the circumstances would have given his side more of a chance. Smith said: "I felt at one stage of the season that we had a good opportunity to win the league and that was more than I'd have expected in our first full season back at the club. "But we're obviously disappointed with the outcome tonight and disappointed we've lost out on the championship. "Having been in a good position previously, our disappointment is even greater because things haven't materialised for us. "I wouldn't say I think there was ever any point when things started to wrong for us as such. "After a run of 20 games unbeaten, I felt at that point we could go on to take the championship because of the levels of consistency we had shown. "But when we realised what fixtures we would have in the last couple of months, I knew we would have a battle on our hands.Ferguson battles with Mackie "Overall, a failure to handle a set of circumstances which were unusual for a team to have to deal with has led to us falling down as much as anything else. "Rangers, like any other club in the situation we were in, tried as hard as we could to get our fixtures spread out. "When it didn't happen, we had to play the games we had. We've done that now and the way things have turned out hasn't helped us." Smith saw substitute Nacho Novo sent off for a reckless tackle on Stuart Duff and had no complaints about the Spaniards dismissal. Rangers must now go into the weekend without the suspended striker, just as they did when they faced Dundee United for the League Cup in March. Smith knows he must also rouse his men one last time before the summer, regardless of the short period they have in which to prepare. He added: "We'll have to play the game and we would like to finish the season on a brighter note than we have done in the last week or so." 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gazza_8 233 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Excuses!!! 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 How is that making excuses? You ask him if the hectic schedule affected the results and he says, yes. Seems to me he's just agreeing with the bleedin' obvious. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
calscot 0 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 I think the SPL needs to re-organise itself to create the space for teams to be successful domestically and in Europe and also allow for postponements for bad weather, Scotland get-togethers and deaths of former players. For a start, the League cup needs to be finished by November. Not only does that ease fixture congestion in the new year, it distinguishes the two cups - for one they don't overlap and so become ambiguous and secondly one rewards early season cup form while the other rewards late season cup form. That would have saved Rangers two games after Christmas. Secondly, any team still in Europe should be exempt from replays in the Scottish cup and those games should just go to extra time and penalties - just like the league cup. Replays are an anachronism anyway. That would have saved Rangers two more games - maybe more if we went out but that would be up to our players and just the way the cookie crumbles. Thirdly, it seems to me that we play too many games in the second half of the season when this seems like the most likely time that games are postponed. We should have two more Wednesday fixtures before Christmas to allow for postponements afterwards. That would have saved Rangers two more games. Fourthly, the league should start three weeks earlier and the players given them back in a winter break in Jan/Feb when the weather is usually shit. I'm sure players would love it and how many times have we said, Someone-inho won't sign as they wouldn't fancy a cold Feb night at Love Street etc? Wouldn't we get more fans attending SPL games in late July and early August than a cold, wet winter's day. Sure it may still be wet in July but it's going to be a heck of a lot warmer. It would also allow teams to play better in Euro qualifying rounds due to the season having started - works for Russia. That would have saved Rangers another 3 games after Xmas. So Rangers could have had up to NINE less games to play after Xmax. Now I'm not just saying this for Rangers benefit, it equally applies to Celtic and all other SPL clubs. All clubs would benefit with the ones successful in Europe benefiting the most - which again benefits all clubs indirectly. 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wija 0 Posted May 23, 2008 Share Posted May 23, 2008 Excuses!!! It is stone wall fact mate, 3 games in 5 days... and 1 more to go with just 40 odd hours off... 0 Quote Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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