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SPFL FIXTURE LIST CHAOS: CELTIC LOSE FLAG DAY TO MONDAY WHILE RANGERS, HEARTS AND MOTHERWELL GET HANDED AWKWARD OPENERS
CELTIC GET THEIR MONDAY NIGHT FLAG PARTY AS THE SPFL FIXTURE LIST QUIETLY MOCKS RANGERS, MOTHERWELL AND HEARTS — SOMEONE’S HAVING A LAUGH
Celtic supporters won’t get their usual weekend flag day celebration this summer, and the timing couldn’t have landed with worse comic timing for their rivals.
The club’s opening fixture will take place on a Monday night because of pressure on police resources, with the Commonwealth Games concluding at the Sir Chris Hoy Velodrome across the road from Celtic Park and a Calvin Harris gig at Hampden on the same weekend. Celtic’s own statement didn’t hide their frustration, calling it disappointing that flag day would be staged on a Monday evening, and confirming they’d repeatedly pushed Police Scotland and the SPFL to avoid the clash, only to be told there was no alternative.
So Celtic kick off their title defence on Monday, August 3 at 7.30pm against newly promoted Dundee, capping off what’s set to be a hectic four-day opening to the season.
And here’s where it gets interesting for everyone else. Rangers open the campaign first, away at Dundee United on Friday, July 31 at 8pm, which also happens to be new boss Derek McInnes’s first competitive game in charge. A Friday night curtain-raiser at Tannadice isn’t exactly the glamour start a new manager dreams of, and it leaves McInnes with a full weekend to stew before anyone else has even kicked a ball.
Hearts haven’t been spared either. Their season opens at Aberdeen, a ground where they haven’t picked up a win in more than ten years. Whoever built this fixture list either has a long memory or a wicked sense of humour, because handing Hearts that particular venue on day one feels like more than coincidence.
Motherwell round things out with a trip to Easter Road to face Hibernian, live on Sky Sports at 4.30pm on Sunday, August 2, sandwiched in among a weekend that’s already being talked about more for its scheduling headaches than the football itself.
Put it all together and the picture is clear: Celtic lose their flag day to a Monday slot nobody wanted, Rangers’ new manager gets thrown into a Friday night away from home, and Hearts are sent straight to the one ground where history isn’t on their side. Whether any of it was intentional is beside the point. The optics write themselves.
The full weekend will see all six opening Premiership fixtures shown live on Sky Sports, so at least nobody will be able to say they missed the chaos. Celtic’s players and staff will just have to wait an extra day to get their hands on the flag, while three other clubs quietly wonder if the SPFL’s fixture computer has a sense of irony all its own.
One thing’s for certain. Whoever drew up this list either wasn’t paying attention, or they were paying very close attention indeed.
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