Chris Sutton blasts SPFL conspiracy theorists after absurd day of whining

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Former Celtic striker Chris Sutton has blasted those criticising the SPFL for poor scheduling after Scottish Premiership fixtures were announced on Monday, The Daily Record reports.

Eyebrows were raised for some yesterday, including former Ibrox striker Ally McCoist (The Daily Record), because Celtic have been handed a home match against Hamilton and Rangers an away match against Aberdeen on the opening weekend.

Critics have also been unhappy with the first derby against Steven Gerrard’s side being moved later in the calendar compared to recent seasons.

The SPFL have slotted that Celtic Park fixture into October, giving fans as much chance as possible of being allowed in safely during the ongoing pandemic.

Sutton can’t believe it’s all caused such a drama, telling The Daily Record: “There have been some quite high profile people up there who have been commenting on this.

“It’s actually laughable, people who have played the game talking about conspiracies over the way the fixtures fall when you have to play everybody anyway. You couldn’t actually make that up.

“That tells you the feeling up there and we know what’s at stake but it’s about 38 games. It’s about endurance, consistency and seeing it through and Rangers haven’t done that the last couple of seasons after Christmas.

“That’s their big issue, not playing Aberdeen and blaming Neil Doncaster for the way the fixtures fall.”

Sutton is quite right to call these moaners out for their absurd whining.

Absolutely no advantage has been handed to Celtic.

All the SPFL have done is ensure that some of the top-flight’s most marketable games go ahead at the optimum time, as any league would do.

The fact is that the derby hasn’t been scheduled beyond the first 11 weeks, which is fair in a 12 team league.

It’s also a myth that the first derby never takes place in October. It’s happened five times in the last 20 years.

They’re going to have to come up with more credible grievances than this to be taken seriously.