It’s bad enough for us but does anyone think this is helping Gers boss get his side ready for Euro clash on Thursday?
Gary Holt has said for months Scottish football’s authorities need to do more to help our teams in Europe.
He’ll never understand how forcing one of them to play a rearranged game at less than 24 hours’ notice is supposed to do that.
The Livingston boss and MailSport columnist is seething at the SPFL’s decision to force them to play this af ternoon af ter their game with Rangers at a Storm Dennis- sodden Ibrox was called off two hours before kick-off yesterday.
He knows how much of a logistical nightmare it is for him, his staff and his players – so how, he wonders, does it help Steven Gerrard and his team to eat a day out of their prep for one of their biggest games of the season against Braga on Thursday night?
When it became clear league chiefs were trying to railroad the game through before the Europa League game to avoid a fixture pile- up later, Livi suggested Monday night as a compromise to suit them and their fans.
But either way, Holt believes the outcome was wrong. He said: “The club have put a statement out and obviously in the end we’ll do what we’re told.
“But I said in my Sunday Mail column all the way back in July that we had to do our best to help Scottish teams do well in Europe by giving them more time off to prepare for games – of course we do. So does anyone think this is helping Steven Gerrard prepare his side for Thursday night?
“I know how much of a logistical nightmare it is for us. The team bus is already booked elsewhere, for example.
“I mean, it’s not our bus, we hire it, like most teams our size do. Hopefully we’ll be able to get one.
“We’ve got a pre-match meal to get sorted as wel l , the kitman has a mountain of work to do. But it’s about more than just things like that.
“We spend 48 hours preparing for a game and the planning is meticulous. It’s not a process that’s just thrown together. And Steven Gerrard will be exactly the same.
“We’ve moaned about them having to play Thursday nights and then Sunday lunchtimes and how unfair it is on them – the league hasn’t helped them at all when it’s convenient for them.
“Now they’re re-arranging a game with zero meaningful discussion before a crucial European game.
“They’ve got a game to rearrange against St Johnstone as well. If we have a game called off now, in February, surely their game that was called off in November because of the Betfred semis takes precedence over ours?
“Are Motherwell and St Mirren being made to rearrange at 24 hours’ notice after their game was called off? I know it’s a different set of circumstances because of Europe but there are two teams involved in a game.”
Holt doesn’t believe it’s just the players who’ve been dumped on from a great height by the decision. He reckons they’re taking a liberty with the fans and unnecessarily hitting them in the pocket as well.
He added: “We said we’d play on Monday night, which seemed the most sensible compromise. You’ve got to think about everyone in these circumstances.
“Then there’s the weather. If we were going to have to get it done quickly, which they seemed to insist on, Monday night looked, to us anyway, the best solution to let the weather die down and give the pitch a chance.
“Obviously I’m thinking about our own fans first and foremost, and I feel for them – but Rangers have got thousands of fans coming from far and wide to watch a game as well and their plans are set for a Saturday.
“It costs them all a fortune, whoever they support, so asking them to do it twice in the space of two days is nonsense.
“Even on a personal level, I had pals coming up from England for the game and I had to phone them and tell them to turn around and we’ll see them when it’s re-arranged.
“Then I had to make another call when they were already on the way back down the road to say, ‘Er, it’s tomorrow…’
“We’ve got accommodation to sort out for players and we’ll be lucky if we can organise a hotel for a meal at this notice for that many people. It was all just too hastily done.
“I know it’s not easy and we all want to see Rangers and Celtic get through into the last 16 and beyond in Europe, which will make it even harder. But the whole thing felt as if it was hurried through and not talked over enough.”