Post split fixtures

[Armand 2]

Farcical that the fixtures haven't been confirmed yet.

My preference would be for:

County (H), Accies (H), Dundee (A), St Johnstone (H), Motherwell (A)

[RossDee01]

7 minutes ago, Armand 2 said:

Farcical that the fixtures haven't been confirmed yet.

My preference would be for:

County (H), Accies (H), Dundee (A), St Johnstone (H), Motherwell (A)

I think you could probably bet that you guys will play County on the last day. Usually that's how they try to work it anyway.

[Dunning1874]

Even aside from the fact they should have been able to announce the fixtures by now regardless of what they're doing for the OF game, it's ridiculous that the media are banging on about 1999 so much anyway.

It was 19 years ago and as previously mentioned in this thread there was a pre-split OF game which could have decided the title six years ago, which passed with no trouble inside the ground and no more trouble outside of it than any of their other meetings. Just get it announced rather than keeping the other 10 clubs waiting while you panic about the scheduling of one game.

[JamesM82]

31 minutes ago, Dunning1874 said:

Even aside from the fact they should have been able to announce the fixtures by now regardless of what they're doing for the OF game, it's ridiculous that the media are banging on about 1999 so much anyway.

It was 19 years ago and as previously mentioned in this thread there was a pre-split OF game which could have decided the title six years ago, which passed with no trouble inside the ground and no more trouble outside of it than any of their other meetings. Just get it announced rather than keeping the other 10 clubs waiting while you panic about the scheduling of one game.

Tell the polis that.

In all seriousness, the polis are making this almost impossible.

You have five fixture dates available:

21/22 April

28/29 April

5/6 May 

8/9 May (midweek round)

13 May 

• Polis are clearly opposed to 21/22 April because of the "Celtic might win the league" argument.
• 5/6 May is a no-no because it's a bank holiday weekend. That was a major reason for the trouble in 1999.
• I doubt the polis would go along with the midweek date. I think there were only a couple of midweek OF games between 1999 and Rangers going bust. Clearly the polis prefer the Sunday lunchtime slot.
• 13 May is a no-no because (presumably) Celtic will get presented with the trophy that day.

So that leaves us with 28/29 April. Only problem being what if Celtic don't win against Aberdeen/Hibs/Hearts/Killie in their first game? Not that unrealistic, since they've already lost at Tynecastle and have only won once in three goes (in the league) v Hibs and Killie.

 

[Desp]

19 minutes ago, RossDee01 said:

I think you could probably bet that you guys will play County on the last day. Usually that's how they try to work it anyway.

They're happy enough to plan a "Relegation decider" or "Place for Europe decider" on the last day.  We've seen it many times before.

However, you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the opening day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens), you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the last day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens) and you can't schedule Celtic v Rangers on a day where one of them has the opportunity to clinch the title.

Let's not forget, we're not allowed the choice of whether or not to have a beer at the football as a result of, yes you guessed it, a Celtic v Rangers game nearly 40 years ago!

It's an absolute embarrassment.  

[Spikethedee]

So, possible mentions today of fixtures not being released until Friday, all because of the inability of two sets of bigoted arseholes to go to a match without a riot breaking out. Why not just order all their meetings be played behind closed doors if they can't be trusted to guarantee the behaviour of their fans???

 

Still not able to make plans for which weekends I can work or do other stuff, despite the fact that we've known the make up of top and bottom six for a week, and the total number of points needed for Celtic to win the league after the split for two days. How many fvcking options are there?? There's only 5 possible fixtures, surely it can't be that hard to pick one of them and get it over with?

 

It's this kind of incompetence, pandering, indecision and flat-out stupidity that encapsulates all that is wrong with our game. If there's going to be this much fuss about these games, play them all as the first four fixtures of the season and if they end up in different halves after the split (which would be absolutely deliciously hysterical), one of them can be retro-fitted as the Bigot Cup, which they can boast about winning to their media chums and put on their roll of honour web pages.

 

 

[RossDee01]

26 minutes ago, Desp said:

They're happy enough to plan a "Relegation decider" or "Place for Europe decider" on the last day.  We've seen it many times before.

However, you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the opening day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens), you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the last day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens) and you can't schedule Celtic v Rangers on a day where one of them has the opportunity to clinch the title.

Let's not forget, we're not allowed the choice of whether or not to have a beer at the football as a result of, yes you guessed it, a Celtic v Rangers game nearly 40 years ago!

It's an absolute embarrassment.  

This. They allowed Dundee the perfect opportunity 2 seasons ago to relegate Dundee United. This could have been totally avoided, but obviously we're not scumbags so there was no trouble*

 

 

 

 

 

 

*That and no Dundee United fans turned up.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

4 minutes ago, RossDee01 said:

This. They allowed Dundee the perfect opportunity 2 seasons ago to relegate Dundee United. This could have been totally avoided, but obviously we're not scumbags so there was no trouble*

*That and no Dundee United fans turned up.

This season there's still the chance of the all Dundee play off final that everybody wants to see

 

[Fifespud]

This season there's still the chance of the all Dundee play off final that everybody wants to see
 

Well not EVERYBODY [emoji51][emoji51][emoji51]

Just make the OF game the last game of the season. Simple.

[Jimmy85]

An all Dundee play off final would be hilarious. Dundee would stick about 8 past that United side in the first leg alone. 

[Monkey Tennis]

50 minutes ago, Desp said:

They're happy enough to plan a "Relegation decider" or "Place for Europe decider" on the last day.  We've seen it many times before.

However, you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the opening day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens), you can't have Celtic v Rangers on the last day of the season (not aware of any other fixture where this happens) and you can't schedule Celtic v Rangers on a day where one of them has the opportunity to clinch the title.

Let's not forget, we're not allowed the choice of whether or not to have a beer at the football as a result of, yes you guessed it, a Celtic v Rangers game nearly 40 years ago!

It's an absolute embarrassment.  

Don't forget the narrative that says the rest of us absolutely need these teams and the meetings between them.

[H Wragg]

Tell the polis that.
In all seriousness, the polis are making this almost impossible.
You have five fixture dates available:
21/22 April
28/29 April
5/6 May 
8/9 May (midweek round)
13 May 

• Polis are clearly opposed to 21/22 April because of the "Celtic might win the league" argument.
• 5/6 May is a no-no because it's a bank holiday weekend. That was a major reason for the trouble in 1999.
• I doubt the polis would go along with the midweek date. I think there were only a couple of midweek OF games between 1999 and Rangers going bust. Clearly the polis prefer the Sunday lunchtime slot.
• 13 May is a no-no because (presumably) Celtic will get presented with the trophy that day.

So that leaves us with 28/29 April. Only problem being what if Celtic don't win against Aberdeen/Hibs/Hearts/Killie in their first game? Not that unrealistic, since they've already lost at Tynecastle and have only won once in three goes (in the league) v Hibs and Killie.
 

After all this shite I’m desperate for your last scenario to happen and it to pass off no worse than any other OF game then we can put 1999 to bed once and for all, at least until the two of them are actually competing for the title post split.

[RossDee01]

It's about time they just played each other behind closed doors.

[Raphael]

As usual the pandering to the Bigot brothers is embarrassing. As mentioned above previous Old Firm games have had implications to the title and have passed with no more trouble than usual so why is there such a panic now?

Both Dundee and Edinburgh derbies which have had implications in recent years have been scheduled with no real thought on crowd trouble or anti social behaviour. Dundee relegated Utd and Hibs had a chance to do it against us as well. Total fear mongering nonsense,  which will make the bams of either side of the arse cheek play up as they are almost expected now to cause trouble.  This hyperbole has a lot to do with the west coast media almost relishing the idea of trouble and the ensuing graphic hostility and sectarianism they can report on. Pathetic. 

[C4mmy31]

I'm happy enough to go to Ibrox a 3rd time, it holds no fear nowadays for any visiting team tbh.

[topcat(The most tip top)]

15 minutes ago, C4mmy31 said:

Ibrox  holds no fear nowadays for any visiting team tbh.

Given our away form I'd be slightly fearful about visiting Brechin

[Desp]

This is something which we'll need to remember the next time there's moans about the shitty TV deal we have.

Unquestionably, Celtic v Rangers/Rangers v Celtic are the biggest games Scottish Football has to offer to a television company.  I think we all know it's the only reason Sky are involved with Scottish Football.

I would assume that the first game of the season, last game of the season, and whenever a team wins the league would be up there in the most marketable games for Sky.  However, they aren't allowed to put the biggest game they have in any of those slots.  Far from me to defend Sky in their dealings with Scottish Football, but why should they pay anymore than the bare minimum if they aren't getting everything in return?

200-odd miles down the road, Sky were giving the full treatment to a "title clincher" between two city rivals who were 1st and 2nd in the table.  They even put in on 5:30pm on a Saturday night FFS!

[Raphael]

1 minute ago, topcat(The most tip top) said:

Given our away form I'd be slightly fearful about visiting Brechin

Id go as far and say id not welcome a trip to Cowdenbeath 

[craigkillie]

9 minutes ago, Desp said:

This is something which we'll need to remember the next time there's moans about the shitty TV deal we have.

Unquestionably, Celtic v Rangers/Rangers v Celtic are the biggest games Scottish Football has to offer to a television company.  I think we all know it's the only reason Sky are involved with Scottish Football.

I would assume that the first game of the season, last game of the season, and whenever a team wins the league would be up there in the most marketable games for Sky.  However, they aren't allowed to put the biggest game they have in any of those slots.  Far from me to defend Sky in their dealings with Scottish Football, but why should they pay anymore than the bare minimum if they aren't getting everything in return?

200-odd miles down the road, Sky were giving the full treatment to a "title clincher" between two city rivals who were 1st and 2nd in the table.  They even put in on 5:30pm on a Saturday night FFS!

I'm sure Sky would choose not to have the first or last game of the season as an Old Firm game for exactly the reason you've described.  They'll get good viewership figures those days whether it's Rangers, Hamilton or Peterhead who Celtic are playing, so they'll choose one of the latter so that they still have an Old Firm game to hype up on some other date.

[Gaz FFC]

Given the way the powers are bending over backwards to stop Celtic winning a 1 horse race at home to the neighbours on the 22nd what would they do if both Old firm had made the Scottish Cup final?

Surely Celtic winning a double treble would be more aggro for everyone than watching Celtic win a 1 horse race.

Also with regards the 99 shame game wasn't that played at night and therefore we can easily look at the part  alcohol played in the behaviour of fans?

It's hardly the same to compare an evening KO where Rangers won the title at Parkhead with a Lunchtime Sunday KO where the home team will win a title they strolled and should be embarrassed it took this long to confirm.