Premiership post-split fixture hysteria abounds as paranoid Hearts fans offered explanation
Three-horse race for title has given SPFL unfamiliar issues to solve
Bless the SPFL, an institution that can be relied upon to make absolutely nobody happy. They seem to have done it again following the publication of the latest set of post-split Premiership fixtures. These include Hearts v Rangers, a meeting between the current first and second teams in the league, which is being played on a Monday night at 5.30pm.
Come again? To be fair, this latest impossible job might have been better left to a supercomputer somewhere in North America, as we are led to believe happens when producing the standard league season fixture list. Feed everything in and stand well back. What comes out is what comes out. It is what it is, to use that hackneyed phrase favoured by sports people everywhere.
With so many variables to factor in - including high-ranking police officers looking over the shoulders of those charged with determining who plays whom and when in the last five rounds of fixtures - human input is essential.
There had to be an element of picking and choosing. There had to be some, yes, manipulation. Hearts fans immediately clocked an anomaly helping feed their paranoia that no-one in authority wants them upsetting the Old Firm applecart. The team leading the table is usually given the respect of a home game to finish with, in recognition of being in the driving seat after 33 games.
Not so this time. Hearts head to Celtic Park of all places for what could be a title showdown in front of the live cameras on Saturday 16 May. “In recent seasons we have been able to have the club at the top of the table entering into the split at home on the final day,” explained the post-split Q and A with chief operating officer Calum Beattie. He spelled out that this wasn’t possible this time around due to a number of “competing constraints,” including Celtic having three home games to fit in while Hearts and Rangers have two. According to Beattie, an additional difficulty is that every fixture round is “very unpredictable”. Scotland’s newfound competitiveness at the top has proved challenging for this league format. It’s the first time since the split was introduced in 2000-01 that there has been a three-horse race for the title. Brains are being frazzled. This isn’t the way it’s meant to be.
One thought struck while absorbing the various complaints from teams in the bottom as well as the top half of the Premiership. We can send astronauts farther into space than ever before, yet we cannot fathom how to split a league without creating mass hysteria.
Who knows? Hearts could be travelling to Parkhead on the final day needing a result to win their first Scottish championship since 1960 against a team already out of the reckoning. It could work in Derek McInnes’ side’s favour.
The main regret in this scenario would be that so few away fans would witness such a potentially historic day. Celtic’s policy of permitting only around 800 away fans in a pokey corner has been a bone of contention for years. Hearts hardly have reason to complain since they now accommodate an even lower number of visiting supporters. Some Celtic fans are already petitioning to make available only the absolute minimum of tickets should it come to Hearts needing a result to win the league at Parkhead.
Scottish football, eh? These fans might change their tune if Celtic are already out of the running and it turns out a Hearts win or draw means Rangers cannot lift the title. Ibrox fans are already imagining this scenario and preparing the lying down accusations. See you on the dark side of the moon.
Comments
Want to join the conversation? Please or to comment on this article.