You would think that after the fiasco with fixtures in 2008 that the SPFL would maybe consider doing Rangers a favour over the next few weeks, however, what they have done is as unsurprising as it is frustrating.
Should Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side progress to the semi-finals of the Europa League, an event so rare for Scottish teams that it’s only been down twice this century then they face the prospect of having to play Celtic at Parkhead between the two games.
In short, the SPFL has decided that we should play our hardest fixture and a game that could – albeit unlikely – still have ramifications for the destination of the league title whilst we are contending with two games against top level opposition.
Why not give us Ross County at home or Dundee United for that matter? It’s the latest in a long line of weird coincidences that the SPFL fixture computer seems to throw up and the latest example of Scottish football hating itself to death.
We’ve seen in the past how other teams have had fixtures moved whilst we have been running on empty, 2008 was a disgrace in terms of the number of games we had to play in such a short period, we never stood a chance against a good side that had over a week to prepare, as Kevin Thomson and Barry Ferguson have said in recent years, it is one of their regrets in that they never got to enjoy the occasion because it just felt like a nothing game due to the sheer volume of fixtures they were playing.
They – the SPFL – could have given us anybody from the top six and they chose Celtic, if that doesn’t tell you everything you need to know then I don’t know what will.