With the launch of the new fixture list for the SPFL Premiership season, there will be plenty of comments and observations from interested fans and stakeholders.
For many, it is about checking through the list, seeing what the ties are for a particular time of year – the start of the season and the Christmas period are always a point of matter.
For Rangers, we know that the first game of the season will be away, to be followed by the curtain-raiser at home for Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s team. So who will it be to kick-off 2022-23? Aberdeen away, Hibs or Hearts away, maybe even a trip back to Kilmarnock? All will be revealed at 0900 on Friday.
For SPFL company secretary Callum Beattie, this is a time of particular focus, with all of the challenges presented in this upcoming season.
The Scottish clubs were previously informed regarding the early indications and calendar issues for the new campaign, with the winter World Cup being an obvious factor.
As a result, the Premiership will shut down on November 14 – after Matchday 16 – to restart on December 17. From there, five games will take place over 15 days across all competitions between 24th December and 7th January.
Constraints
In terms of the early season, there is a headache created by the various European commitments that lie ahead for the Scottish clubs:
“Having five teams in Europe is fantastic but presents additional fixture challenges,” Beattie stated.
“We’ve had to build that in, trying to avoid certain matches on certain weekends, which gets quite complicated. The alternative is we would have to postpone those games, which nobody would welcome.”
“We know they will play each other at some point so there’s no competition integrity issues – it just means you’ve got to bake that constraint into the recipe. But if you add more constraints, it throws up other things you don’t like…”
If one thing is for sure, not every club will be happy with their allocation: