Park your mock hysteria – Just play games and back your team

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The Celtic Star

·8 aprile 2026

Park your mock hysteria – Just play games and back your team

Mock hysteria. Just play the games, whoever finishes top of the pile, will have done so fair and square…

The recently released set of fixtures for this post top six split has caused plenty of controversy, with plenty of disgruntled voices making themselves heard, and as usual the loudest voices are from the blue half of Glasgow, with their east coast cousins down Gorgie way just as vocal in their angst.

It’s been well known for a few months now that Celtic would be due three games in the post split fixtures, but still we have those of a blue persuasion and those in Maroon having a pop at everything and anything to do with the scheduling, from the times to the dates, and even the allocation of tickets.

OneFootball Video

Why all the sudden hysteria? Every team has got to fulfil the same number of home and away fixtures, so do the Bears and their Jambo chums want to be allowed an extra home fixture against the Champions? Sporting integrity anyone?

Celtic are sitting third, so shouldn’t have a home game to finish the season, is yet another gripe being made by our rivals. Celtic have already played two more away games than the Rangers and one more than Hearts, who have a home game before the split while the Rangers travel to Falkirk.

So post split Celtic play three at home and two away while the other two title contenders play twice a home and three times away and guess what it means that all three have played 19 home matches and 19 on the road.

No one batted an eyelid when we had play at Pittodrie, Ibrox and Rugby Park in our first five run of fixtures this season. Is it fair that the champions of the country had to endure such a difficult start? Or when our rearranged fixture with Aberdeen was slapped in between two trips to Ibrox.

The Jambos are also sniping due to the fact that so few of the Gorgie faithful will have the chance to back their side in a potential last day title showdown.

Don’t Celtic supporters get a measly 600 tickets for away days at Tynecastle? Indeed thousands of our own supporters were denied the pleasure of watching the club win the title away to Hearts back in 2023.

There are moans about the Rangers not playing before Celtic during the split but nothing said about Celtic playing after them at least 10 times already this season.

The Rangers fans even reckon that Celtic would lie down to Hearts on the last day to stop the latest Ibrox club winning the league. This scenario actually happened in the early 1960s – if Hearts won at Celtic Park they’d be champions. Guess what happened? Celtic won 2-0 and Rangers FC were crowned Champions of Scotland.

Looking at the Hearts forum they are convinced that their side won’t win the league. After the weekend they ra a poll with the vast majority predicting a title win for the Rangers. Maybe that’s changed after the post split fixtures were announced, I don’t know.

Celtic supporters are happy enough with the fixtures and having been to Tynecastle and Ibrox twice we are due our second home game against them.

The SPFL released a detailed Q&A on their official website explaining the reasoning behind all the fixture decisions that have been taken and it’s well worth a read – see below.

My message to our whining rivals, is just get one with it. Whoever finishes in first place will rightly deserve to be Champions.

Just an Ordinary Bhoy

2025/26 POST-SPLIT FIXTURES Q&A

POST-SPLIT FIXTURES Q&A WITH SPFL CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER CALUM BEATTIE

Q: How are the number of home games for each club determined? Clubs are scheduled to play 16 or 17 home games in the 33 fixture rounds before the split. We then try to ensure all clubs finish up having played 19 games at home and 19 away. However, this is not always possible to achieve – in fact, since the split was introduced in 2000/01, we have had a 20/18 scenario around 50% of the time. This season, Falkirk will play 20 home games in the top-six and Livingston will play 18 home games in the bottom-six.

Q: Will some clubs play certain opponents three times at home and once away or vice versa? Yes. Fixture reversals have been required in every season since the split was introduced in 2000/01, when the top-flight was increased from 10 clubs to 12.

Q: Which games have been switched this season? There are four reversals in the top-six – Falkirk will host Rangers and Hibernian for a third time and Falkirk will travel to Celtic Park and Tynecastle for a third time. There are three reversals in the bottom-six – Livingston will travel to play Dundee and Dundee United for a third time and Kilmarnock will host Dundee for a third time.

Q: How do you decide which fixtures are reversed? In general, we aim to minimise the number of switches and do our best to avoid reversing fixtures that have a key impact on the league title, the race for Europe, and the battle to avoid relegation, but that is not always possible, particularly when clubs might be separated by only a few points. We try to avoid reversing the big city derbies and may also take into account how clubs have been impacted by the post-split fixtures in previous years. All this season’s reversals in the top-six involve Falkirk, who were in sixth place at the time of publication and who are also receiving an extra home game.

Q: Are there any ‘golden rules’ regarding the post-split fixtures? All clubs will play a minimum of two, and a maximum of three, home fixtures after the split. We try to ensure clubs finish the season home/away or away/home over fixture rounds 37 and 38 and that is the case again this season.

Q: Why have the split at all? In order to manage a division of 12 clubs, without having to accommodate 44 matches – which is too many given the increasingly-congested calendar – the split is required. It also provides significant additional interest as clubs bid to secure a top-six finish. This has been an unusual season with the split confirmed in advance of round 33. Last season St Mirren pipped Hearts and Motherwell to the last top-six spot, while four years ago no fewer than seven clubs were in contention for three places in round 33.

The final five fixture rounds then involve teams playing each other to chase a common objective, be that the William Hill Premiership title, European qualification or to retain top-flight status. There has been a lot of debate about league format in recent years, and no structure is perfect, but over the past quarter of a century the split has become a firmly established and exciting element of the William Hill Premiership.

Q: Why is Rangers v Motherwell being played on Sunday April 26? Celtic v Falkirk was selected for live broadcast on Saturday April 25, so the Rangers v Motherwell match was switched to the Sunday to avoid both clubs being at home on the same day.

Q: How do you decide who is at home on the final day? There are a number of factors that go into this decision, including:

(i) The need for all clubs to finish home/away or away/home

(ii) The number of home matches each club has post-split

(iii) The need to avoid city clashes – for example, if Hibernian are at home, Heart of Midlothian need to be away (and vice versa)

(iv) The fact that this season in the top-six we made the decision to have all matches kicking off at the same time on Wednesday May 13 to ensure that all clubs had the same recovery time between rounds 37 and 38. This means that Celtic/Rangers and Hearts/Hibernian couldn’t both be away on the final day as one would have to play their home match in Round 37 on Tuesday May 12.

(v) Feedback from stakeholders including clubs, Police Scotland and broadcast partners with a general consensus that we should not have a city derby on the final day of the season with a potential trophy presentation.

To illustrate, Celtic have been given a home match on the final day of the season, partly because they have three home matches post-split and Hearts and Rangers only have two. In recent seasons we have been able to have the club at the top of the table entering into the split at home on the final day. However, that has not been possible on this occasion due to the number of competing constraints and the most exciting title race in years making each fixture round very unpredictable.

We have a fantastic final day to look forward to with Celtic and Hearts facing off at Celtic Park, Rangers travelling to a Falkirk side that have been one of the success stories of the season and a potential battle for European spots at Easter Road.

Q: Remind us of all the post-split dates… The Scottish Cup semi-finals take place at Hampden Park on the weekend of April 18/19, before the William Hill Premiership resumes with fixture round 34 on the weekend of April 25/26. Fixture round 35 takes place on the weekend of May 2/3 and round 36 will be played on the weekend of May 9/10. Fixture round 37 is scheduled for the midweek of May 12/13 and round 38 will be played over the weekend of May 16/17, with top-six games on Saturday at 12.30pm and bottom-six matches on Sunday at 2.00pm.

Q: What post-split matches have been chosen for live TV coverage on Sky Sports? Our main broadcast partner Sky Sports have confirmed six fixtures for live broadcast – two for each of rounds 34, 35 and 36, taking their total to 50 William Hill Premiership games this season. Sky Sports will make selections for rounds 37 and 38 in due course. Hearts v Rangers in round 35 has been scheduled for Monday May 4, kick-off 5.30pm as part of Sky Sports’ bumper coverage of UK football on the Bank Holiday.

Saturday April 25: Celtic v Falkirk (Sky Sports, 5.30pm)

Sunday April 26: Hibernian v Heart of Midlothian (Sky Sports, 4.30pm)

Sunday May 3: Hibernian v Celtic (Sky Sports, 12 noon)

Monday May 4: Heart of Midlothian v Rangers (Sky Sports, 5.30pm)

Saturday May 9: Motherwell v Heart of Midlothian (Sky Sports, 8.00pm)

Sunday May 10: Celtic v Rangers (Sky Sports, 12 noon)

Q: Do Premier Sports have the rights to any post-split matches? It was announced in June that Premier Sports would have the rights to two post-split matches in the bottom-six. It was recently agreed that Premier Sports could carry over their one outstanding pre-split selection. Premier Sports will therefore broadcast the following matches live, taking their total to 22 for the season – two visits to each of the 11 clubs covered by the agreement:

Sunday April 26: Dundee United v Dundee (Premier Sports, 2.00pm)

Friday May 1: Livingston v Aberdeen (Premier Sports, 7.45pm)

Sunday May 17: Livingston v Kilmarnock (Premier Sports, 2.00pm)

Q: When will the 2026/27 season start?

It was announced back in December that the 2026/27 League season will kick off on the weekend of August 1/2. Fixtures will be released in June, and a publication date will be confirmed in due course.

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