Rangers game at home to St Mirren on Sunday looks set to go ahead, despite a request from the Paisley club to have the game cancelled as well as their next fixture, against Celtic on 29th December.
That plea has been turned down by the SPFL as it appears that St Mirren do have the players to fulfil the fixtures, despite their squad being seriously depleted.
The move was reported earlier by Sky Sports:
“St Mirren’s request for games against Celtic and Rangers to be postponed after a Covid outbreak at the club have been rejected.”
“The club suspended training after “a number” of players tested positive for Covid-19 last week.”
“After more positive cases they asked for Wednesday night’s game against Celtic to be postponed, claiming they do not have enough players to fulfil the fixture.”
Integrity
The current league rules, set out at the onset of the pandemic by the SPFL means that fixtures must continue as long as clubs are able to field a squad with 13 fit players, including a goalkeeper. Inclusive of the 13, 10 of those players must be over 18 years of age.
That is the reality of the situation, as difficult as it may be. Already this season, Rangers and other clubs have had to fulfil games when missing important players so the others will need to get on with it.
This is made worse with the absence of fans as part of today’s update which isnt quite finished yet, as clubs aim to seize the opportunity to bring the winter break forward, in the name of putting the fans first despite no guarantees that the plan can work.