League to be extended

[juffery 0]

When's the Scottish cup final ??

 

Sometime in September :fish:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

24th of May.

[ascender 352]

The full ramifications will be that Celtic fans and players will be moaning their tits off about it for days, weeks and months if we win the title.

[craig 5,199]

The full ramifications will be that Celtic fans and players will be moaning their tits off about it for days, weeks and months if we win the title.

 

And with little justification because the only team that is being helped by this is..... Celtic - it certainly isn't us, asking a team to play 5 games in 10 days is incredible.

[juffery 0]

I think they are getting confused with us being given an advantage and not being put at a disadvantage. All we are looking for is fair play, not an advantage.

[Beattie 0]

RANGERS have reacted angrily to the SPL for failing to help them in their quest for UEFA Cup glory AND denying them a level playing field in their pursuit of the Championship.

 

The governing body today released two fixture models dependent on whether Rangers reach the UEFA Cup final or not.

 

However, scenario one forces them to play three games in six days ahead of the Final and scenario two means four crucial SPL matches in eight days.

 

The last time a Scottish team reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2003, a fixture was moved to give them a full week to prepare.

 

However, the SPL are doing nothing to assist Rangers this time.

 

Rangers will also have the ludicrous situation of returning from Aberdeen on May 23 having to play the Scottish Cup Final the next day.

 

What angers Rangers further is that the SPL have chosen not to extend the season if they don't qualify for the UEFA Cup Final, forcing an unbelievable end to the campaign.

 

Instead of using May 14 and 21 as dates for the outstanding fixtures with St Mirren and Motherwell, they are demanding that Rangers play four games in eight days to complete the season on May 18.

 

Chief executive Martin Bain told rangers.co.uk: "We as a club are really bitterly disappointed in the SPL on all fronts.

 

"It is hardly the best preparation in the lead-up to the UEFA Cup Final - if we get there - to play Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday in advance of that.

 

"So I don't see what the SPL have done for Rangers in terms of aiding them in European competition. They have simply accommodated a fixture

 

"It's all very well for the SPL to go on about Rangers' co-efficient and how it's great for Scottish football but they are doing nothing to assist us.

 

"As for the situation of not being in the UEFA Cup Final, we have been asked to play four games in eight days.

 

"The SPL cite the preservation of sporting integrity in their decision yet Rangers are the only club being asked to play four games in eight days, so there is no sporting integrity.

 

"What we find baffling is that the SPL can extend the season if we reach the UEFA Cup Final but they can't do it from a sporting integrity point of view if we don't.

 

"Why is the season simply not extended to conclude on May 27 regardless?"

[nokiss 0]

Scary thing is, not one Gers fan will be in the least bit surprised at this.

 

We can all go down the conspiracy route with this one, but f**k them, we won't. As RANGERS fans will do what we always do. Deal with it and fight on.

 

A wee note to the SPL, THE CRY WAS NO SURRENDER. :box:

 

WATP.

[juffery 0]

Basically the SPL have wimped out of a decision. By trying to keep both sides happy all they have succeeded in doing is annoying them both. If they had the bollocks to make a proper decision, one way or another things would be different.

[mainstandbear 0]

The season has been extended 24 times since the war...there's a really good article about this on FF....with the reason being that players need time to rest and recover after games....surely in this season of all season's that can be appreciated.

[Gribz 825]

There should be give and take just like when we cancelled our game for Scotland to prepare for the Italy match and when the SPL cancelled us for our Lyon match.

 

Now this will lead to clubs being stubborn in the future. Its disgusting the fact the governing bodies cant support one of there teams and do all they can to help them in Europe.

 

They have messed up yet again. They need to revamp the scottish game with more top flight teams and less SPL fixtures, that will help there irrelevant international friendlies, and they also need to put the Legaue cup back the first half of the season.

[calscot 0]

I think the main problem with this season was the lack of contingency time. We don't expect teams to do well in Europe and are certainly not used to a team playing 18 such games, and planning isn't there for a team getting to both finals and having a couple of replays on the way.

 

Add that into the chance of a few postponed games in January or for Scotland games and the new precedent of postponing a game because a former player died and you can see that the length of the season is now inadequate and not fit for purpose.

 

Rangers carried only two games into the new year and have played two games a week since unless the game was postponed or there was a Scotland friendly on.

 

We basically need one more match day slot and if the league was just one week longer we'd have two and been able to have a break at some point.

 

The league have caved under pressure from Celtic but could not possibly pander to the them if we reach the UEFA cup final as no-one can justify a worse fixture list than 4 games in a week.

 

Celtic are basically trying to cheat their way to the title – especially when you consider they requested our game to be postponed.

 

THAT game should therefore have been put on the back burner until all other games were played and the league would have had to have been extended.

 

Basically we wouldn't have needed an extension without that very weird request.