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Lennon calls on Lawwell to stand up to SPFL

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Neil Lennon has called on Peter Lawwell to reign in the SPFL over a fixture row.

In the middle of December Celtic the SPFL computer scheduled Celtic to play Hibs and Aberdeen with Europa League demands pushing the Hibs match back to Sunday December 15. Steven Gerrard’s side visit Motherwell the same day.

The following weekend the SPFL have brought forward Gerrard’s visit to Hibs from Saturday December 21 to Friday December 20. With matches on the Sunday and Friday no date has been set for their match with St Johnstone scheduled for Betfred Cup semi-final weekend.

With a history of trouble at the fixture a Saturday lunchtime TV slot would appear more sensible than a Friday night visit to Easter Road for the Ibrox fans.

With Celtic playing Sunday (Hibs) and Saturday (Aberdeen) the SPFL have ruled that the hoops have to play Hearts away on the Wednesday in-between while their title rivals enjoy some extra days rest.

Asked about the scheduling Lennon told The Sun:

I’ll need to have a look at the fixture list. I’ve been busy preparing for the games this week. l’ll speak to people above me and see what they think. It was similar last year in December, and we also had nine games in August.

It’s a big ask and even if there wasn’t an extra game thrown in, eight games would still be a big ask. We will have to use the squad.

Last season the SPFL scheduled Celtic to play Hearts at Hampden on a Sunday evening in the semi-final of the Betfred Cup.

After Hearts complained about the scheduling Celtic supporters were forced to travel to Murrayfield for a Sunday lunchtime kick off while the other semi-finalists largely got the venues and kick-off times that they requested.

No explanation was ever given as to why the Celtic game was chosen to be shifted 45 miles from Hampden Park.

The SPFL board consists of Alan Burrows (Motherwell), Les Gray (Hamilton Academical), Stewart Robertson, Ross McArthur (Dunfermline Athletic), Graham Peterkin (Ayr United) and Ken Ferguson (Brechin City).

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