Rangers face 4 games in 8 days

maxwellrfc · February 10, 2011

Just waiting on the bheggars to announce they are in advanced talks about a tour to the uncharted regions of the amazon rainforest where they plan to take part in a pre-season tournament against 3 newly discovered tribes.
That'll make sure there is no extension talk

There can't be an extension because of that Carling nations cup anyway. The most it would get extended would be til the midweek before the scottish cup final like last time.

Castilian · February 10, 2011

They weren't too fussy about games being concluded before the split in 2008.

Two pre-split games were carried over until the end of the season - Rangers v StMirren and Motherwell.

In addition, we were hand away ties with Celtic, back-to-back with Fiorentina.

I could go on and on and on.........

gogzy · February 10, 2011

Me ever played football?...Nah mate, I've never played football in my entire 63 year life.
I wouldn't have a clue about the difference of playing 4 games in 8 days as opposed to training 4 hours per day- six days per week.
I haven't a clue about playing in a side or against a team that had 3 Australian captains on the park...8 players who played in a World Cup finals...nor 2 players who played for Scotland in many internationals ...nor a player who has a European Cup winners medal in his pocket.
I guess I never coached 4 players who played for Australia...nor a player who was regarded as the best thing since Jim Baxter to come out of Fife (until he broke his leg)...nor a player who was offered an amazing contract by Rangers FC, but chose to go to Australia with his family...nor a player who was on the books of Arsenal...nor a player who went on to play for Real Madrid youth team...nor a kid who signed for Wolverhampton Wanderers when they were in the top flight of English football in the late 1970's.
In fact, when I really look at it, I know fuck all about football, nor the difference between training your cunt out under a strict manager six days a week or playing 4 games in 8 days.
I guess I'll leave the comments about this thread to you, who obviously has your finger on the pulse.

HEADSHOT!!!

lol, i would also like us to start rotating the squad we have a bit more. There is no way we can get through the next few months without giving some serious game time to some of our fringe/new players.

WATP!

simplythebest · February 10, 2011

They weren't too fussy about games being concluded before the split in 2008.
Two pre-split games were carried over until the end of the season - Rangers v StMirren and Motherwell.
In addition, we were hand away ties with Celtic, back-to-back with Fiorentina.
I could go on and on and on.........

St Mirren were always finishing in the bottom half with relagation being the threat as per ususal for them, and Motherwell were in 3rd with a top 6 spot secured long before the last 5 games. On this occasion we're dealing with teams that are in a wide open competition to get a top 6 place.

Not a fan of the SPL like anyone else but I can see the difference.

critchie1986 · February 10, 2011

we should be using the full squad in games against dundee utd,the sheep,st mirren and motherwell etc surely our fringe players are better than there players otherwise they wouldnt be at the gers in the 1st place!if they are givin there chance to play then it can only be a good thing as they will b wantin to prove a point that they deserve a place in the startin 11 every week

Castilian · February 10, 2011

St Mirren were always finishing in the bottom half with relagation being the threat as per ususal for them, and Motherwell were in 3rd with a top 6 spot secured long before the last 5 games. On this occasion we're dealing with teams that are in a wide open competition to get a top 6 place.
Not a fan of the SPL like anyone else but I can see the difference.

The common theme is fixture congestion. Pre-split games should be played first. That makes sense.

Not to play them, irrespective of whether teams can or cannot make the split leads to problems.

For example, rather than have Rangers playing St Mirren and Motherwell first, the SPL devised another fixture list.

That fixture list gave Rangers the hardest possible task, in advancing in the two main competitions - UEFA Cup and the SPL.

Rangers were handed a Fiorentina-Celtic-Fiorentina-Celtic fixture list. The SPL knew the UEFA semi-final dates before season started. Did they ignore the St Mirren and Motherwell games because the destiny of those clubs, in relation to the split, had been decided? I think not.

There were other ways of alleviating the fixture list, eg playing the Thistle Cup replay the same weekend as a Scottish national team friendly. No, they wouldn't do that.

They did allow Celtic to have a game postponed because a former Celtic player had died on the field. This lead to ....er ....fixture congestion. They didn't allow Dundee United players the same privilege. The United players had watched the Motherwell player dying on the pitch.

While I'm at it, every team had to play on the Fir Park glue pot pitch four times - except one team. Yip, you guessed it - Celtic. The reason? To ease fixture congestion. They played a game at Livingston.

It was a season of corruption.

davie_bluenose · February 10, 2011

Just saw this on the BBC website:

SPL considers Friday afternoon matches in April

SPL secretary Iain Blair

SPL secretary Iain Blair faces the task of rescheduling fixtures

The Scottish Premier League is considering scheduling matches on Friday afternoons in April in an attempt to clear the fixture backlog.

SPL secretary Iain Blair is trying to prevent some clubs playing four games in eight days to complete 33 fixtures before the 16 April league split.

"We've got Bank Holidays in April - the Friday before Easter, the Friday of the Royal wedding," he told BBC Scotland.

"The police have never had a problem with Friday afternoon games."

Previously, the police have warned against staging matches on Friday evenings.

The SPL and the Scottish Football League have been badly affected by the harsh winter weather that has caused pitches to be frozen and flooded and roads leading to stadia made treacherous.

In addition, there have been a series of Scottish Cup replays, and Rangers have enjoyed an extended run in Europe: they face Sporting Lisbon in the Europa League on 17 and 24 February.

The Ibrox side and Celtic have a Scottish Cup fifth-round replay on Wednesday 2 March and also meet in the final of the Co-operative Insurance Cup on 20 March.

Blair hopes all 12 clubs will have fulfilled 33 fixtures by the split in mid-April, although in previous seasons there have been instances of teams playing games in hand after the split.

"Dundee United and Hamilton have got a bit of a backlog but most of those games are allocated to various dates," said Blair on BBC Radio Scotland's Sportsound programme.

"The games that are not allocated are principally the games involving Rangers and that is in part down to waiting to see what happens against Sporting Lisbon and hopefully rounds after that.

It is the overall balance that really maintains the integrity of the competition

SPL secretary Iain Blair

"It will certainly create fixture congestion but if that is caused by the success of a Scottish team in Europe, then I am all for it."

The league secretary insists he is not keen for a repeat of Rangers' exertions in 2008, when they faced four matches in eight days, but added that his options are limited.

He said: "It is something we try to avoid but we have to get most of the games played up to game 33 so we know who is in the top six and the bottom six so we can produce the fixtures for the next part of the fixtures after the split.

"There have been some informal discussions with the clubs affected. There is an appreciation that we will do everything we can to give clubs as much chance as possible in all competitions.

"But there is also a realisation that there are only seven days in a week and so many weeks to the split. It is not an ideal situation.

"I don't have control over the League Cup or the Scottish Cup or the Europa League.

"If there is another way of playing four games in eight days that is the option we will go for."

Dundee United, with 20, are the club who have played the fewest games this season while Rangers and Hamilton have each got three rearranged games to play.

Asked if the date for the league split could be pushed back from its current slot of Sunday 17 April, Blair added: "The week which contains Wednesday 20 April, immediately after the (Scottish Cup) semi-final, is available. If you push fixture 33 back to the weekend of 23, 24, 25 April it does create a bit of space but it also creates a lot of uncertainty.

"We have had some conversations with the police about that possibility. They understand the situation the weather has brought us to and appear willing to work with us."

Blair warns against a "knee-jerk reaction" to the problems caused by the winter weather, pointing out that the SPL schedule was rarely disrupted in the eight years prior to the two recent harsh winters that have hit Scotland.

And while he describes Scottish Cup replays as "something we could do without", though the decision of member clubs, Blair is keen for clubs affected by fixture congestion to understand that his role is to do what is his best for the league as a whole.

He said: "What I have to try to do is to look at it from all 12 clubs point of view at the same time and it may well be that the best overall balance for all 12 actually means that there are one or two or three that, from their perspective, feel as if there has been a disadvantage.

"It is the overall balance that really maintains the integrity of the competition."

One thing though:

"The police have never had a problem with Friday afternoon games."

Have we ever played on a Friday Afternoon?

Muff · February 10, 2011

Good old Scottish football.

neilstonloyal · February 10, 2011

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_prem/9393471.stm