It has been confirmed that Celtic’s clash against Motherwell in the Premier Sports Cup will take place on the 19th of October, kicking off at the bizarre time of 6:15 PM.
The Hoops are preparing to travel to Fir Park next month after advancing through to the quarter-finals of the competition, defeating Ross County 3-1 in the previous round.
With Ange Postecoglou’s high-flying Celtic side making the short trip to North Lanarkshire, it was heavily expected that Premier Sports would be showcasing the cup clash live on TV.
This afternoon, the dates and kick-off times for all four cup ties were confirmed as sides from the Scottish Premiership and Championship battle it out for a place at Hampden Park in January.
Celtic’s trip to Motherwell was confirmed to be taking place on the 19th of October, with the Hoops fixture schedule now being filled up for the entire month, which includes nine games in 30 days.
Bizarrely, the kick-off time for the cup tie is 6:15 PM, with Premier Sports deciding to show both Celtic and Rangers cup matches on the same night.
Of course, as mentioned, this is due to the extremely busy fixture schedules of both clubs, who will also be taking part in three Champions League group stage games in the same month.
Supporters of Celtic and Motherwell have been left baffled by this decision, which doesn’t seem to take the fan bases of both clubs into consideration.
Motherwell CEO Alan Burrows took to social media to explain the reasoning behind the strange kick-off time, stating that the two clubs had already shared their concerns with the TV provider.
However, due to a contractual commitment, no other arrangements or dates are possible for this game to take place.
It is an extremely frustrating situation, with both fans of Celtic and Motherwell likely to be affected by the earlier midweek kick-off time.
With the two teams on a decent run of form at the moment, it could have proved to have been a great cup tie, and it would be fantastic to see a big crowd at Fir Park to create an atmosphere.
However, many supporters could now miss out on the game altogether due to the very inconvenient kick-off time for a large number of fans.
It may have been mentioned that this is a one-off, extremely rare case, so Alan Burrows has been told. However, it certainly isn’t the first time football fans in Scotland have been almost completely disregarded.
Thankfully, with the commitment of football supporters in this country, there is still likely to be a fantastic Celtic following travelling to Fir Park to support Ange Postecoglou and his side.
In other news, David Turnbull outlines Celtic’s group stage hopes as he shares excitement for opening fixture.
Receive a digest of our best Celtic content each week direct to your mailbox
