Neil Doncaster questions whether clubs should be consulted over fixture rescheduling

Date: 14th May 2015

Neil Doncaster, chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has questioned whether clubs should be consulted regarding the rescheduling of fixtures. The organisation had come under scrutiny for changes made to the final day of the SPFL Championship season, which was going to see Rangers and Hibernian play their respective fixtures 24 hours apart, leading to criticism that the SPFL were risking the “sporting integrity” of the competition.

The main issue centred on Rangers and Hibernian who were locked in a battle for second place in the Scottish Championship, with the Edinburgh side feeling they would be at a disadvantage if their game was not played at the same time.

“Originally they were all scheduled to play on the Saturday, but then TV decided to schedule one of those games for broadcasting on the Sunday,” Doncaster told BBC Scotland’s Sportsound.

“At that point Iain Blair [SPFL secretary] could have done one of two things. He could either have moved all the Championship games to the Sunday immediately, or done what he did do which was move that one game and consult with the remaining clubs whether they should move.

“Because only one game had moved while Iain was consulting, there were questions about sporting integrity, but the reality was that the Hibs game would always have taken place at the same time as the Hearts game.”

Doncaster claimed that the problem had been as a result of communication, rather than over the fixtures themselves

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