Great news that the SPL is starting a couple of weeks early, in July, to allow better preparation for early Euro games and less midweek games in winter (should be even earlier though IMHO). Shame then that they have to go inserting a get out clause so that the OF can go off and play in "glamour" friendlies to rake in even more cash. If they can't fulfil the fucking fixtures they should be punished as any other team would be, not given permission to fuck off out the country for a week, thus meaning some other SPL club suffers with a midweek game rather than a weekend match, with all the reduction in crowd numbers and corporate money that entails.
The Scottish Premier League has announced that next season will kick off on 23 July.
The league says that this, the earliest ever SPL start date, will mean clubs entering European competition will be better prepared than ever before.
However, a new "one-off compromise" protocol has been agreed to allow clubs to compete in friendly matches.
This paves the way for Celtic to appear in the Dublin Super Cup over the weekend of 30 and 31 July.
Celtic will join Manchester City, Inter Milan and an Irish League select in the event in the Irish capital.
For the forthcoming campaign, all SPL clubs can request that one early-season fixture be postponed to allow participation in one-off friendlies and pre-season tournaments, which present the opportunity to generate extra revenue.
The league's chief executive Neil Doncaster described the protocol on his blog as "a one-off solution".
Doncaster continued: "Fixturing is a notoriously emotive area. Trying to shoe-horn so many games into a fixed period is an extremely difficult task - and one where SPL secretary Iain Blair is simply unable to please everyone all of the time.
"There is no ideal solution that suits all clubs. What's vital is that any decision is fair, balanced and in the overall interests of all clubs. And I am confident that the decision on our start date for next season is precisely that.
"It will help teams in European competition. It will reduce fixture congestion and the number of unpopular winter midweek games later in the season.
"It will boost clubs' incomes and increase the value of SPL games to broadcasters. And it's what fans tell us they want."
Doncaster went on to suggest that in future, "post-merger with the Scottish Football League", the League Cup could be "reconfigured to create the sort of flexibility that would be required".
Great news that the SPL is starting a couple of weeks early, in July, to allow better preparation for early Euro games and less midweek games in winter (should be even earlier though IMHO). Shame then that they have to go inserting a get out clause so that the OF can go off and play in "glamour" friendlies to rake in even more cash. If they can't fulfil the fucking fixtures they should be punished as any other team would be, not given permission to fuck off out the country for a week, thus meaning some other SPL club suffers with a midweek game rather than a weekend match, with all the reduction in crowd numbers and corporate money that entails.