It doesn’t look like Rangers will be sending a Christmas card to Dundee this season, although the scandal of 2020 probably saw them already off the list.
For the second time – the fifth time for the Taysiders this campaign – the Light Blues have had to cancel their plans and return to Govan.
Not only is the chance to go back to the top of the Scottish Premiership missed but Rangers having to wait until next week to play Dundee has another effect.
Rangers punished for Dundee’s ineptitude ahead of cup clash
Gers boss Philippe Clement will be raging at the lost time on the training ground and, as he explained in his pre-match press conference, it is a decision that could have been made a lot earlier:
“So if we cannot play tomorrow when we going to play then? Is it then on Thursday?
“So if it’s on Thursday I would like to know today so we can train tomorrow.
“If the decision is made tomorrow evening we have one afternoon, evening, all day in a hotel near to Dundee for nothing.
“Lost time that you cannot work with the player. So I think it’s a logical thing to make a good decision today, for everybody.”
Anybody could have made the decision on Saturday when Dundee’s game with Motherwell narrowly avoided being called off.
The weather hasn’t improved, it has rained every day and there was a weather warning – for rain.
Genuinely, it looked like the game was going to go ahead come hell or high water – if you pardon the pun.
There seemed to be no other explanation for an earlier decision or a contingency being made.
Rangers Scottish Cup plans now up in the air
Not being able to play the game in hand is a nuisance, but having to play just a few days before a trip to Hampden when the squad should have had the whole week to prepare is a huge inconvenience.
No wonder Rangers are fuming.
Hearts will be a tough enough test as it is but they will have fresher legs and more time to work on a specific game plan.
Rangers have been punished because of Dundee’s ineptitude, or negligence.
Junior teams, amateur teams and, of course, their city rivals across the road Dundee United haven’t had the same issues.
United haven’t had a game postponed at Tannadice all season, as already stated, this is now number five for Dundee.
The SPFL has claimed that disciplinary action is now underway against the club, however, this doesn’t help Rangers.
This step should have been taken after the second or third postponement when it was clear that Dundee aren’t meeting the league’s standards on quality of playing surface.
With another week of poor weather forecast, the pitch is only going to get worse over the coming days and we all know there isn’t a plan B, the post-split fixtures could hinge on this game and, as always, it is the fans that are being affected.
Barry Hearn was right in 2014.
