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The Media Has Just Figured Out What Celtic Sites Have Known For Months About The Fixture List.

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You have to give the press a round of applause, I guess, for arriving late at a piece of knowledge that we’ve all had for literally months; that the fixture list after the split is probably going to throw up a scenario that benefits the club from Ibrox.

Depending on who is in the top six, they could be playing two games at home which they wouldn’t get if we had a sensible league system in this country instead of one designed to appease clubs who want four “games against the Glasgow clubs” per season, and then have the cheek to treat our fans like shit with reduced allocations for them.

The split is a ridiculous concept that could only have been dreamed up here in Scotland. Those who are defending it at the moment do so only on the basis that the last ten title races haven’t been close enough for anyone to complain, but that’s hardly the standard we should be using. It isn’t the point either. It’s how shocking this fixture list has been up until now.

If the top six had gone the way many people expected it to, Celtic would almost certainly have faced two away games at grounds we’d been at twice already and Ibrox would have had to play two home games against sides they’ve already hosted twice.

The fixture list is supposed to be random, but this is simply not the case as we all know well. The “computer” is programmed to guarantee a derby at New Year and to coincide our games against our local rivals with Edinburgh derbies where possible.

It is programmed with specific dates to avoid clashes with our competitions … and I’m sure it could be programmed to do other stuff.

This year, entirely at random we’re supposed to believe, it sent us to Tynecastle, Easter Road, Pittodrie, Ibrox, Livingston and Motherwell all in the first third of the campaign, which guaranteed that we’d be doing the same circuit again in the final third.

If the ten in a row season was about ephemeral things and symbolic triumphs – don’t get me wrong, I was desperate for us to do it as we all were – then there’s simply no debate than in terms of substance this is the most important title race in Scotland for decades. The Group Stage place that is up for grabs isn’t just vital for the money but for the way in which it will change the whole summer and how we prepare for the campaign afterwards.

And if you were asked to devise a fixture list the aim of which was to give a new manager still trying to find his feet the most difficult possible task that is what you would have come up. We’re supposed to think that was coincidental? Don’t make me laugh.

Today The Record has twigged to it and they are painting it as a “headache for the governing bodies” when actually it’s no such thing. The headache will be ours if we have to go to two away grounds we’ve already been to twice in this campaign.

The Evening Times article on this is worse; it says “the top two will have no complaints” but that the real issues will arise below us. Oh yeah? The writer’s club clearly won’t have any complaints, and I think that he’s written that crap shows that his own biases aren’t even very well disguised or that his employers necessarily care … but I can see us having a few.

We’re supposed to feel sorry for the organisers of this shambles, I suppose. But I’m afraid my sympathy is in short supply and reserved only for our own club.

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  • John says:

    Are season tickets not sold on the basis of 19 home league matches?
    If celtic fans are bumped out of 2 home games are they refunded money?
    If so , is it celtic who have to cover this or the SPFL?

    • Tam says:

      I’m sure the reason for the ‘manipulation’ of fixtures after the split is to guarantee that the home & away fixtures are still even for the season overall, even though it could mean 3 at home or away against 1 or 2 clubs

      • Droopy McCool says:

        Correct, it’s been happening this way since the split was intoroduced in 2001, when we got a 3rd home game against Dundee to even up the home and away games. In the first 5 years we “benefitted” with the extra home game 4 times, against Dundee, Dunfermline, Dundee Utd and Aberdeen.

        This isn’t a new concept.

  • Sonny says:

    I have told you all the hun bastards have it all their own why are you all sitting on your hands if you dont stand up to this , they know
    They can get away with it .
    Warnings to the bums that run the SFA are not getting through we have to stand up to them ,

  • Martin says:

    This has been the absolute nonsense of the split every year since we expanded to 12. It’s not fit for purpose. As you say it’s only so the top 6 clubs get 4 games against us and the TV rights go on the basis of 4 us vs sevco games.

    I remember when this was being set up. 12 was possibly the worst number they could’ve chosen. Just low enough to say we need 4 rounds per season, high enough to introduce inequality. If they insist on 4 rounds we must drop back to 10 teams. I’d actually prefer an expansion and fewer games (16 or 18 x 2) as it might actually allow space in the calendar for european games or let players come through injury and play for their national teams. But we would need the SFA to invest heavily in making the lower league teams better and that isn’t going to happen.

    • Droopy McCool says:

      18 teams for me. It could bring teams like Aberdeen, Hearts, Hibs etc. closer to us. A home win against us and sevco makes them competitive, and with lesser teams in the league maybe more wins for them. If they get more competitive, they might get more fans in. I’m not saying they’re going to start seriously competing for or winning the league, but you never know over time. Then external investment, interest and sponsorship increases, instead of just feeding off a 2-horse race (or 1-horse if the current nag needs put down). Whilst we’re at it, summer football too please.

  • Pan says:

    Scotland is a corrupt little country with the corrupters living in the 16th century with their sense of entitlement. It is embedded in the whole fabric of the establishment. Scotland needs to be a republic like France and Ireland.
    With regard to football, we should have two leagues of 20 clubs each.
    Each club plays each other twice only, home and away. Only in Scotland can we have the mess we have. Even the guys who made the FIFA game do not understand how our system works, because it is a totally crazy system devised by idiots.

  • Stephen McAdam says:

    Its a joke! The only way this solit works fairly is with 14 team as I stated before top 7 break after26 games and play each other home and away giving the same 38 games otherwise it’s a crazy random and mostly unfair system, we can only hope st.mirren or ross county join Dundee und and hibs as things stand. Regardless we winning this league anyway! And another TREBLE!??

  • Stephen McAdam says:

    Split even

  • Ed says:

    You can put money on it that we have to go to Tyncastle again.
    And then either Pittodrie/Eastern road/Toni Macaroni as the other option.
    Depends on who qualifies.
    And Hearts needs to go to Ibrox for the 3th time this season.

  • Martin H. says:

    The split is a shambles and has always advantaged the ibrox club.

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