OLD FIRM DATE RAISES CONCERNS WITH SCOTLAND

STEVE CLARKE last night questioned the decision to schedule the first Old Firm clash of the season just 72 hours before Scotland’s World Cup qualifier in Denmark. Rangers host Celtic at Ibrox in the SPFL Premiership on Sunday. And, with six members of his squad likely to be involved, Clarke admits he would rather the game had been moved to Saturday to allow more preparation time for the Copenhagen clash on September 1. ‘It is just one of these things,’ said

Clarke. ‘It’s part and parcel of the modern game and the players will tell you they are used to it, but it would have been nicer if Celtic and Rangers had been on the Saturday and not the Sunday. Listen, we will just deal with it and get on with it.’ The Scots need to take a decent points tally from Denmark, Moldova and Austria to preserve any hope of reaching Qatar 2022. While other leagues grant players a weekend of respite before key international dates, however, a crowded SPFL schedule will see some of Clarke’s key players pitched into a tough away game against the Euro 2020 semi-finalists 72 hours after the first Old Firm meeting of the season. ‘I’m not in charge of the fixtures. ‘I don’t know how they feed the balls into that computer which comes up with the fixtures,’ he said. ‘Sometimes, you look at that fixture and think: “How did that happen?” ‘I don’t know how they plan the fixtures, but it’s one of those things and we will deal with it. ‘If you look at the squad, we’ve got Nathan Patterson from Rangers — and I hope he gets some minutes in the next couple of games. ‘We have a few Celtic boys, too. But listen, they’re professional footballers and they’ll just get on with it. They understand the game for us next Wednesday night is a big one in terms of World Cup qualification.’