SPLIT WILL HIT THE FAN

Gers & Dons can turn up heat on SPFL

SOMEONE at the SPFL wants their backside skelped over the post-split fixture debacle.

Now this has long been an easy subject to have a pop at those inside Hampden.

The split does work at times, with some outstanding battles in the bottom half making for excitement, and the only reason it hasn’t been as successful at the top is because we’ve had too many runaway title winners.

Fixture scheduling has, however, always been a pest. Every season someone loses out. That’s just part of the deal and, most of the time, the clubs will accept it’s just unfortunate.

Some, such as Motherwell, have been given the unfair hand too often but generally it’s a swings and roundabouts job.

This year it’s just a total mess – and it was avoidable.

Of course, nobody knows at the beginning of a season how the results are going to go and who is going to finish where.

But given the resources and squads there was a fairly strong chance Celtic, Rangers, Aberdeen, Hibs and Hearts would be in the top six.

That’s not being clever after the event. For example, we all more or less knew the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea, Spurs and Liverpool would finish in the top six in England.

The sixth slot in Scotland was a lottery. Anyone could have got it but barring a bit of a disaster it wasn’t unreasonable to think the big five were going to be in the top half. So surely someone must have been able to see that having Rangers play each of the other four twice at home before the split was going to be an issue that would come back to haunt them in April.

People accuse fans and pundits of only having a go at the SPFL because they are easy targets but they have left themselves open on this one and the stick will only get worse if the title race goes to the wire.

Rangers would probably still have to go to Parkhead and Pittodrie but avoiding a second trip to Easter Road, Tynecastle or Kilmarnock’s dodgy pitch would be an advantage.

Whether it becomes a big issue or not is down to Derek McInnes and Graeme Murty. The likelihood is that Celtic will go to both Pittodrie and Ibrox over the next 16 days and emerge victorious to nip all of this championship chatter firmly in the bud.

But if ever Aberdeen and Rangers wanted to ask a serious question, now is the time.

Title talk is cheap. But Aberdeen and Rangers have a real chance over the next fortnight to back it up.

Given Celtic’s power, it’s hard to imagine it’s going to get tight for Brendan Rodgers and his team during the run-in.

But if ever there is a time for their rivals to mount a serious effort, it’s now. By Sunday afternoon the gap at the top could be down to six points with 10 games to go and Aberdeen have to make their opportunity count.

The Dons have lost their last eight games against Celts but the circumstances are stacked in their favour for Sunday.

Celtic have just gone through a gruelling Euro tie and travel home from Russia to face a trip to the Granite City 60-odd hours after kicking off in St Petersburg.

It’s all there for Aberdeen and if Rangers can beat Hearts tomorrow they’ll also move to within six points of Celtic.

With the champions due to head to Ibrox early next month that could give the Light Blues the chance to haul the gap back to three.

If that happens the post-split fixture debacle will really come back to bite the SPFL.

The stick will only get worse if title race goes to the wire