Rangers fixtures to give SPFL unwanted headache in ‘conspiracy theorist’s Disneyland’
Rangers, Celtic and Hearts being involved in a three-way Scottish Premiership title battle is likely to give SPFL chiefs a headache.
Danny Rohl has done brilliantly to ensure that the Bears will be fighting to catch up with league leaders Hearts, with Celtic also pushing for the title under Martin O’Neill.
The Bears are six points adrift of the summit, and although they’ve suffered back-to-back Scottish Premiership draws, they still have a chance.
However, Rangers have been put in an unfortunate position as they may have to rely on Celtic if they want to win the league – and indeed vice-versa.
Rangers could have terrible luck with Scottish Premiership fixtures
Rangers and Motherwell will be the two main title contenders to have played more home matches than away matches before the split.
As a result, the Ibrox outfit will also need to travel to one of Motherwell, Hibernian or Falkirk for a third time to even out their home and away fixtures across the full season.
However, what’s even worse is that with three teams in the race for the title – or indeed four including Motherwell – the SPFL will have to find a way of organising the games on the final day to ensure that there is no bias.
Rangers’ post-split fixtures:
- Rangers must play two home games and three away games after the split
- Already played Celtic away once, Hearts away once – They must face both away
- Already played Motherwell, Hibernian and Falkirk away twice – They must face one of the three teams away
If Celtic and Hearts were to face off at the end of the season, the Hoops may not be in the title race anymore, and they could essentially let Derek McInnes’ side win the match, and therefore the league, to prevent Rangers from doing so.
Speaking on The Set Piece podcast on 4 March, Bill Leckie outlined that the fixtures need to come down to chance and not design to avoid any sort of debate surrounding bias.
He said: “It’s a conspiracy theorist’s Disneyland, the whole thing. There will be people with tin foil hats everywhere.
“It’s a real problem, but that’s why you put all the names into a computer to organise the fixtures post-split.”
Rohl will hope that his side can claw back the six-point gap on Hearts, but could it already be too late?
Have Rangers already blown their title hopes?
Drawing to Livingston, a side that has won once all season, and then blowing a two-goal lead in the Old Firm derby was catastrophic.
These were must-win games, especially given how tough their games post-split look.
The only way Rangers will have a fighting chance is by beating both Celtic and Hearts away from home in the final weeks of the season.
As they have already lost twice to Derek McInnes’ side this campaign, it will certainly be a tall order.
And while winning both games would be incredible, they would then need to win all of their other matches, which could include an additional trip to Motherwell.
It’s a tough spell ahead, and those previous two results could prove to be incredibly costly by the end of the season.
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