SENTINELCELTS

Morning,all.

I suppose I could use today’s article to have a casual wee smirk at the fifteen point gap we now have at the top of the table. Or use the fact that the only win in five for our rivals came when they spanked us last week to have a wee pop at the manager for his tactics on the day. But I won’t. Nor will I mention tomorrow’s match-at Ross County, which will be a difficult one in very poor conditions-as that is MAHE’s usual topic of choice for the Saturday article. 

No, I think it’s maybe time we addressed the issue of the packed schedule, with particular reference to the logjam either side of Christmas and the effects it has on the finances of the supporters. Not to mention their enthusiasm, given that conditions around this time of year tend to be anything but clement. (Sorry, I said I wouldn’t mention the Huns.) Even in the milder temperatures leading up to Christmas, it was blowing a gale at virtually every game. Hardly conducive to playing The Beautiful Game-in fact, I remember Kyogo running onto a through ball and having to turn back to get it when it was blown behind him! But is there an alternative?

Well,Celtic are as good an example as any, given that we have our European adventure to deal with AND that we played every round in The League Cup. I’ve done some back-of-fag-packet research on free midweeks for us from 4th August to 12 April, the only fixtures scheduled so far. Believe it or not, there are six of them before the end of September and one in December, along with another seven from 2nd February. That’s a lot of leeway to space games out in anyone’s book. And it doesn’t include the four international breaks either-for obvious reasons. So why doesn’t the SPFL use them?

Well, there’s a number of reasons that I can think of. And this is where our Brains Trust of readers come in,because I’m bound to have missed one or two. Firstly, the ones in August don’t count as they are set aside for European qualifying. While it’s true that we didn’t need to qualify, other sides did-and next season that will include us. And there’s another downside to European competition when it comes to scheduling. While UEFA no longer prevent countries from playing on European nights, they are still prevented from advance scheduling of matches on those dates. After all, we can’t have a full round of SPFL fixtures if there is a possibility of even one club still being in European competition. They are fine though with the playing of previously postponed matches, which is very decent of them!

Speaking of previously postponed matches, ours against the two Dundee sides, on Wednesday and next Tuesday, are rescheduled due to League Cup cancellations-so you can see how quickly those free midweeks can suddenly add to the hectic schedules we are witnessing. And of those midweeks to come with nothing scheduled? Virtually all of them are for the three European rounds leading to the semi-finals at the end of April. 

So, thanks in no small part to UEFA/FIFA scheduling club and international matches for approximately twenty midweeks, there is little space in the calendar for anything else. Even in England, the home of the first competitive trophy (though not the oldest,btw) in The FA Cup, they have now banned replays in it because of the fixture chaos. Yet some countries still manage to have a midwinter break, so how do they do that?

In the main, those countries have fewer league games. Some with 34 games and 18 team leagues, and some with 30 games and 16 teams. Scotland did away with its 18 team league fifty years ago now, and we have struggled to get the right formula since. Starting with 10 teams playing each other four times, then 12 teams doing the same-which certainly wouldn’t be possible now!-then the current 12 teams and a split giving us 38 games. The only viable option is to increase the number of teams to 18 again, and I don’t think there is any point in even going there. The SPL struggles with enough low-quality fare and ramshackle stadia as it is, and we certainly don’t want more of it. 

Seriously, I’ve been thinking about this for a while now. I’ve certainly mentioned the packed fixture list often enough. And I’m struggling to come up with anything. Hopefully some of you fine people can shame me with some answers! I suggested yesterday in a comment that we could move the September international break to December, which would give us a chance at two September midweeks plus a December break for those players not on international duty. And it’s still the best I can come up with! While that helps the players AND the fans, I should be embarrassed that it’s the best I can do, but I’m not. Because the power-brokers have made a grab for everything they can, and left no room for anyone else. 

And as we know, that is just the way of the world these days. 

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Above article by BMCUWP