In his press conference this weekend, Neil Lennon had a good whinge about fixture overcrowding. “I am sure all the managers at the top level would agree with that, as the amount of matches we play is nothing short of is incredible. Allied to the Champions League and Europa League commitments, it takes its toll on the players, the squad — and even the management at times!”
On the face of it, it's not an unreasonable complaint, given that, if they reach the Scottish Cup final in May, Celtic will be playing their fifty-sixth competitive match of the season. They had six Champions' League qualifiers even before they made the group stage. And, given the comfort eating that Ally McCoist partakes in even when Rangers are cruising towards another promotion, god knows how stressed Neil Lennon is.
So it's not an unreasonable complaint...that is, until, you remember that this press conference was not at Celtic Park, but in Turkey. Celtic didn't play a league match this weekend. They were allowed to postpone their home match with Kilmarnock in order to go gallivanting abroad.
Why did they go? Why, for the prestige, of course. After all, the Antalya Cup gave them the chance to pit their wits against world-class teams, and was played in front of enormous crowds with wall-to-wall TV coverage that can only enhance Celtic's brand abroad. Right?
Well, the other teams involved were Galatasaray, Trabzonspor and Ajax. That's because the Turkish and Dutch leagues were actually having their winter breaks, while every other league had either finished their break or doesn't have one. And those leagues don't let teams postpone league matches in order to take part in these major events. Well, I say major - a grand total of 75 folk pitched up to watch the Celtic-Trabzonspor match. But it was on Premier Sports, so I presume most fans chose to watch it at home?
Heck, the only thing that would make this more ludicrous would be if the actual trophy got broken...except it did. It got knocked off its plinth and damaged. I'm not kidding.
Celtic's lineup for the final, which they lost on penalties to Galatasaray, was: Zaluska, Herron, Fraser, O'Connell, Fisher, Biton, Henderson, Forrest, Boerrigter, Pukki, Balde. That's how serious this competition was. I think it's rather sweet that Lennon gave his reserves a chance to lift a trophy, given that barely any of them will even make the bench if Celtic win the Scottish Cup.
The reason for this debacle, of course, was moolah. Sadly, I can't say with certainty how much - though if the figure of £700,000 that was claimed on Pie & Bovril is true, then Peter Lawwell will be rubbing his hands with glee. For the second time this season. Because a home game with St Mirren way back in August was also postponed, so the Bhoys could play Liverpool in Dublin. They didn't put out a strong team that day, either. But they did make a decent amount of cash. Six months on, the match against St. Mirren still hasn't been played.
I'd wager that the income from those two trips have cancelled out any reduction in prize money that Celtic agreed to when the SPFL was created. Am I wrong?
Interestingly, whilst I was researching for this blog, I trawled through the SPFL rulebook to find this daft rule which allows teams to do this. There isn't one. I asked around on twitter, and I was helpfully informed by Don Johnstone, who is heavily involved with Caley Thistle, that "it's not a direct rule, it was an agreement formulated under rule G3 (and further sanctioned by the clubs) for this season...some clubs wanted a winter break, some didn't. This was the compromise which (I believe) was carried unanimously."
For my fellow anoraks, Rule G3 states "the Board shall have discretion to schedule and to reschedule the date, time and/or venue of any Official Match as it shall consider appropriate." So apparently an all-expenses paid trip to Turkey is an appropriate reason to call off games, in the eyes of the SPFL board. As for the debate over a winter break, I can't help feeling that the fact that only one SPFL club has taken up this opportunity suggests that either there wasn't a very high demand for it, or that other clubs aren't taking the opportunity because they can't afford a trip abroad, nor are they being offered one at the expense of a Turkish Airline. This seems crass and unfair to me - a rule that benefits only one club. And the toadying to Celtic from the SPFL board is matched only by the unwillingness - as always - of the vast majority of the Scottish sports press to upset one of the two hands that feed them by calling out Lennon for his incredulous comments.
So, Celtic get an advantage, thanks to an interpretation of the rules that seems to assist only them. We should be used to that by now, given the way referees officiate their matches, I suppose. Still, as they and the SPFL continue to ensure that the gap between them and the other sides in Scotland gets bigger and bigger, surely in the future Lennon will be able to send half the squad to Turkey, and keep half the squad to crush the increasingly weak domestic opposition? That way, everyone wins, don't they?
L.
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