Celtic title defence will start away from home
CELTIC will kick off their title defence with an away game for the second time in three seasons.
The champions are allowed to reschedule one Premiership home fixture in order to play a friendly match so need to use their ‘joker’ to face Inter Milan in Limerick on Saturday, August 13.
That means a road trip is set to mark the first competitive domestic match in charge for Brendan Rodgers on August 6-7.
As a result, Rangers and Mark Warburton would be free to celebrate their top-flight return with a home contest and the unfurling of the Championship flag at Ibrox on that opening weekend.
Ronny Deila made his league debut in the dugout at McDiarmid Park against St Johnstone in August 2014 because Celtic Park had been hosting Commonwealth Games action.
The following Saturday, Fergus McCann unveiled the title flag and Celtic responded with a 6-1 victory over Dundee United in their belated first home match of the Premiership campaign.
The champions starting off away from home is likely to be one of the talking points when fixtures for all four divisions are announced at 10am this Friday.
Another is the return of the winter break for the top flight in January. Three festive slots of fixtures are scheduled — for Christmas Eve and Hogmanay which fall on Saturdays, plus the midweek in between.
The big clubs will then return from their mid-season breather for William Hill Scottish Cup fourth-round action on Saturday, January 21.
The second Old Firm meeting of the season is likely to be slated for Wednesday, December 28 — also the date of their last festive derby in 2011 when Celtic won 1-0 at Parkhead.
However, it’s understood the following weekend has not yet been ruled out, which could mean the two bitter rivals kicking off the New Year with a mouth-watering televised clash.
That last Wednesday of the year will be one of six midweeks allotted for the Premiership, an increase required to allow for the winter break and revamped League Cup taking up space in the first half of the calendar.
Semi-finals for the tournament, now sponsored by Betfred and featuring July group stages, remain on a weekend. These are staged on October 22-23 with the Final scheduled for Sunday, November 27.