Steven Gerrard’s Betfred Cup thoughts have largely been kept to himself, but he’s finally sent out a warning to the SPFL.
The Rangers manager simply can’t fathom as to how the league didn’t envisage both teams being in the Europa League. The fact that both are meant that neither of the two Betfred semis could be played on the Saturday. With both sides in action on Thursday nights, it would be a huge disadvantage.
The SPFL finally came to a good decision last night after crunch talks with Police Scotland. Rangers will now face Aberdeen on the 28th October at 16:30. Celtic’s game against Hearts, meanwhile, has been moved to Murrayfield for a 13:30 kick-off. This means that, in a reversal, Celtic and Hearts will play first on semi-final day.
Gerrard can’t believe bosses didn’t see this coming, and he encouraged league supremos to back the Old Firm next time around.
“The only advice I would give is maybe next time expect both of us to get to this stage in Europe and have a different solution. We just left it to the powers that be to make a decision.
“It doesn’t really affect us because we were drawn out to play in the first game at Hampden and we didn’t expect anything to change. We didn’t have a complaint in the first place. And we still don’t have a complaint.”
A lack of faith
The SPFL and its decision makers have certainly shown a lack of forward-planning in this sense. Why on earth couldn’t they have sat down and discussed this scenario when Celtic were knocked out of the Champions League? Both sides were then in the playoffs, and you had to fancy both to reach the Betfred Cup semis.
It’s a saga that’s become an embarrassment in recent days. These days, it seems like Scottish football just enjoys racking up banter points than being efficient in its dealings. The SPFL have only added to that theory with their dreadful handling of the semi-finals.
Rangers’ silence on the matter was interesting. Hearts and Aberdeen both had big complaints about the fixture times. Meanwhile, Celtic weren’t happy at being moved to Murrayfield without there being some form of ballot. Rangers have kept quiet until now, and they seem to have gotten the best deal out of everyone.
Regardless, what the SPFL have at least done is come to the correct decision. As usual we took the scenic route, but you wouldn’t expect it any other way in this country.
It’s now time to put this ridiculous issue to bed and move on with it. It appears Celtic aren’t willing to let it go and have continued to debate their case today. Regardless, that’s not Rangers or Gerrard’s problem, and the Gers can now finally look ahead to tonight’s game without this saga ongoing.
