Neil Doncaster has explained why Celtic were allowed to postpone Saturday’s home match with Partick Thistle.
Every year the issue causes predictable complaints as an early league fixture is cancelled while Celtic take part in a lucrative friendly.
Alan Archibald provided the comments this year describing the decision as farcical despite knowing from the date the fixtures were announced that his side wouldn’t have a game on weekend two.
Celtic season ticket holders miss out more than most with a Saturday match rescheduled for a winter midweek with this season’s flag raising ceremony taking place in mid July at home to Lincoln Red Imps.
Every club in the top flight will receive a cheque for £150,000 if Celtic beat Hapoel to reach the group phase of the Champions League with Doncaster again explaining the reasons and benefits of Saturday’s ‘joker’ fixture.
“When the SPFL was formed three years ago, there were a lot of negotiations around the redistribution of wealth down the leagues,” the chief executive told The Sun.
“The bigger clubs were giving up fairly substantial amounts of money to clubs lower down the leagues and particularly in the Championship.
“These clubs have to look at the ways to recoup some of this money and the joker system is part of what enables that.
“That money they gave up had to come from somewhere and the bigger clubs look at different ways of generating income — with the International Champions Cup one of them for Celtic.
“I understand the inconvenience that it can cause for clubs to have games postponed, but it’s a balancing act.
“To have our SPFL champions invited to such a prestigious tournament involving the world’s very best teams is a huge accolade and brings positives.
“It reflects well on the league and at a time when money is tight, these sort of tournaments can bring revenue into the game.”
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