Rangers face potential fixture chaos as SPFL sweat over Europa League dilemma

rangeral

Well-Known Member
Now I wonder where some of this article come from:rolleyes:


From DR

The SPFL face a fixture headache over Rangers’ outstanding game against St Johnstone if the Ibrox side reach the Europa League quarter finals. Steven Gerrard’s side were due to play the Perth men in the league in November but had to postpone it due to a clash with their Betfred Cup semi-final.

And league chiefs are now sweating over a potential dilemma as there will be NO available midweek dates before the split if the Light Blues progress through the next two rounds in Europe. Celtic’s Premiership trip to Tynecastle was also cancelled that weekend after they reached the League Cup last four but the Hoops played Hearts in mid-December. Gerrard’s men were unable to play that midweek as they already had a Friday night trip to Easter Road after their weekend clash with Hibs was brought forward 24 hours for TV.

And the scheduling situation could get worse with both clubs already facing rearranged league games in a jam-packed fixture list from the weekend of their Betfred Cup final showdown at Hampden.

Rangers are due to host Ross County at Ibrox on January 29 with Neil Lennon’s Hoops travelling to Perth the same evening to take on St Johnstone. However, if the Staggies are held to a draw or their Scottish Cup fourth round tie against Ayr United is postponed this weekend then the replay or rearranged tie is scheduled to take place that midweek. The same applies to Celtic’s clash with Partick Thistle at Firhill as the Scottish Cup takes precedence over the league and new dates would have to be found for the games.

It will also be the case for future Scottish Cup rounds with league games scheduled to take place on cup replay and rearranged dates. And it could prove hugely problematic for the SPFL if the Rangers and Celtic continue to progress in Europe and the Scottish Cup ahead of the split on April 4.

Both sides are strong favourites to progress in their Europa League last-32 ties against Braga and Copenhagen respectively with the round of 16 games taking place on March 12 and 19 and quarter finals on April 9 and 16. The lack of available dates is one of the main reasons the SPFL can’t entertain the idea of postponing the entire Scottish Premiership fixture card ahead of Scotland’s huge Euro 2020 play-off semi-final against Israel on March 26.
 
Surprise, surprise.

Well, for a start, we don’t entertain the Scotland pish.

Hopefully disappears with Kelly and co knock St Johnstone out the cup.

The issue of free dates is the main reason the SPFL don't want to postpone any games for Scotland

For 4 of the games that weekend of March 21 isn't a problem as they could played on 7th/8th April but the other 2 is St Mirren v Rangers and Celtic v St Johnstone and you add Rangers v St Johnstone into the mix is the issue and trying to have the split on time and arranging the fixture is key

Oh it Ross County if you are taking about Stephen Kelly
 
I'm not saying we are going to reach the Europa final again, but what happens if we do, (or at least get past the 1/4 final)?

If there are no midweek dates available, how are the mongos at the SFA planning to accommodate this?

There is one available midweek on April 21/22 which might ok if a game needs played without impact the split if no other issues arise before then

As I said in the link provided the OP the outstanding St Johnstone should have been played by now but that is the fault of the SPFL on that
 
I suppose this has already been suggested but... why cant the potential Ross County - Ayr replay get bumped by a week (or 2)?

But that is the date of it they could have agreed to play it next week under the rules but didn't

The 5th round is on weekend of February 8th/9th
 
This seems to be happening a lot these days.

Time to scrap the winter break?
Aside from the boredom of no football, I'm not against the winter break, especially for the team getting a rest from games and some good weather to train in. They played a lot of football in the weeks running up to the end of December and were due a break.

The bit that sticks in my throat is we're not level pegging (games) with the beggars purely down to a rescheduled game for TV. I know we need TV money etc etc, but scheduling a Friday night game against the spoon burners the Friday before Christmas was lunacy in my view, regardless of the result.
 
Ross County drawing away at Ayr is more than a possibility! That added to the Europa League and likely bad weather in Feb could cause major issues. Thankfully most of our games are at home which should negate the weather issue to a degree.
 
See when we go a few points clear before the game is played , we can put out half a team in the hope that we can at least take a draw and play 4 games in a week , which is what they will make us do anyways. All caused by making us play on the Friday night v hibs , which I don’t care what anyone says was a deliberate ploy to potentially cause this scenario down the line and in theory keep the poets ahead of us
 
Looks like there could also be an issue with Scottish cup semi final if us and them are both still in Europe semi I between 2 euro games
 
Looks like there could also be an issue with Scottish cup semi final if us and them are both still in Europe semi I between 2 euro games

Quarter-finals

Not really an issue as there is no League games on the midweek after unlike last season and the League Cup semi-final chaos

Instead of Saturday/Sunday, Sunday/Monday could be used unless they opt to play on Sunday in different stadium until the semi-final draw is known it is a guess
 
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Quarter-finals

Not really an issue as there is no League games on the midweek after unlike last season and the League Cup semi-final chaos

Instead of Saturday/Sunday, Sunday/Monday could be used unless they opt to play on Sunday in different stadium unless the semi-final draw is known it is a guess
Yes if we are both still in Europe neither can play on the Scottish cup semi final Saturday so they will need one of your solutions
 
This seems to be happening a lot these days.

Time to scrap the winter break?

And the League Cup (certainly for the teams in the top flight or at least those who will be competing in Europe. As much as a I love the trophy as it's been good to us over the years, we can't have a winter shutdown and the 3rd competition.

There's no way the SPFL should be postponing matches for the Scottish National team when there is a fixture pile up.

If there's a game that weekend that can be moved, we should be playing one of our two games in hand on that date before Scotland are considered.
 
I'm not saying we are going to reach the Europa final again, but what happens if we do, (or at least get past the 1/4 final)?

If there are no midweek dates available, how are the mongos at the SFA planning to accommodate this?
Well, the SFaa will make us play 6 games in 10 days again to hand the poets the league obviously.
 
I'm not saying we are going to reach the Europa final again, but what happens if we do, (or at least get past the 1/4 final)?

If there are no midweek dates available, how are the mongos at the SFA planning to accommodate this?
same as the last time

we play 4 games a week
 
The fixtures for the next 3 months are an absolute disgrace.

The shitty winter break needs binned as of next season.

The top league in Scotland is the only league in Britain that has a break. There is absolutely no need for it and all it does is cause fixture congestion at other points of the season.
 
The fixtures for the next 3 months are an absolute disgrace.

The shitty winter break needs binned as of next season.

The top league in Scotland is the only league in Britain that has a break. There is absolutely no need for it and all it does is cause fixture congestion at other points of the season.

The winter break was voted on when the League Cup was started in July instead for all club except the sides in European competition

The EPL have one next month over 2 weekend

8 teams play on 8th/9th February the other teams 12 play 14th-17th February
 
Aside from the boredom of no football, I'm not against the winter break, especially for the team getting a rest from games and some good weather to train in. They played a lot of football in the weeks running up to the end of December and were due a break.

The bit that sticks in my throat is we're not level pegging (games) with the beggars purely down to a rescheduled game for TV. I know we need TV money etc etc, but scheduling a Friday night game against the spoon burners the Friday before Christmas was lunacy in my view, regardless of the result.
As long as Rangers and Celtic are in Europe all our televised games should only be scheduled for a Sunday. It will happen almost every year that we need a couple of Wednesdays for catch-up.
 
Why not go back to the old set up and play the league cup semi finals midweek instead of weekend ? ( if a date can be found ) There'd be no need to postpone a weekend fixture.
 
Why not go back to the old set up and play the league cup semi finals midweek instead of weekend ? ( if a date can be found ) There'd be no need to postpone a weekend fixture.

They were moved to the weekend to increase attendances
 
I'm not saying we are going to reach the Europa final again, but what happens if we do, (or at least get past the 1/4 final)?

If there are no midweek dates available, how are the mongos at the SFA planning to accommodate this?
They wont!! We will get shafted with Zero help like the last time. Wankers will never be forgiven for that.
 
And yet we just had an utterly pointless near 3 week winter break where this game could have been fitted in quite easily.

And fuck right off with this "Hoops" shit. It's become more and more prevalent and tells you all about who their favourites are.
 
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