Club statement over Celtic cup tie

On the day that the SPFL failed to get club consent to extend their Premiership deal with Sky Sports another broadcasting issue has surfaced.

Premier Sports want to show Premier Sports Cup-ties from Motherwell and Ibrox on the same night, October 19.

With the broadcaster also the competition sponsor the clubs aren’t in much of a bargaining position. The draw was made last Wednesday, at lunchtime today the fixture schedule was announced with Motherwell quick to come out with a statement.

Both Motherwell FC and Celtic FC raised concerns around the kick-off time based on the difficulties it will present to supporters wishing to attend the match.

Both clubs asked the broadcaster to consider having the two live matches, scheduled for that day, run simultaneously on different channels. However, we have been informed that this is not possible due to other contractual commitments and no other arrangement are possible.

Whilst we an extremely keen to work with our broadcast partners and commercial sponsors to ensure they get maximum value for their investment in Scottish football, it’s a far from ideal scenario for fans of both clubs.

We have been reassured that the circumstances surrounding this particular scheduling are extremely rare and unlikely to happen again.

A 6.15pm kick off makes travel very neat for supporters but at least it is not at Ross County where Celtic were last week.

Between 5 pm and 6pm the M74 is one of the busiest roads in Scotland, adding the best part of 10,000 fans into the mix will mean that travel times will be extended even more.

Ultimately the clubs will be powerless. They’d have stated their case since the draw was made then have to fall in line, allow the cameras to dictate the kick-off time and provide Premier Sports with pre-match.