Rangers omitted from Scottish Premier League fixture list

Scottish Premier League secretary Iain Blair has confirmed Rangers were omitted from the Clydesdale Bank Premier League fixture list for the forthcoming season after an application was made to transfer their place to a newco.

With the process ongoing, the punishment for Rangers being liquidated and the establishment of a newco Rangers is still to be determined and they could yet be demoted from the Scottish Premier League to the Scottish Football League.

It remains uncertain if Dunfermline, relegated from the SPL last term, or Dundee, runners-up to promoted Ross County in the Irn-Bru First Division, would occupy the 'Club 12' slot on the fixtures list should Rangers be denied a place in the competition. I

t means Kilmarnock still do not know who they will play in their opening fixture of the new season.

Blair said: "Following the failure of Rangers FC to exit administration via a CVA (Company Voluntary Arrangement), we have received an application to register the transfer of their SPL share to a newco. Should it be rejected, then another club may be invited to join the SPL for season 2012/13."

Blair also explained the rationale behind the league's first winter break since the 2002/03 season, which will take place after the January 2 fixtures.

The break means the Scottish Cup fourth round, when top-flight side's enter the competition, will this season take place on December 1 and 2.

"Supporters have often told us that they favour a winter break," Blair added.

"Indeed, we have always been open to reviving the break but fitting it into the schedule can be a problem. With no World Cup or European Championship next summer, we are able to finish our own season slightly later and incorporate a shutdown covering two weekends in January."

The winter break means more midweek fixtures, with a midweek card at the end of November, in late January and in February.

Celtic have been allowed to postpone their home fixture with Dundee United, to a date still to be determined, in order to play in a friendly with Real Madrid in the United States.

The split remains, with the first post-split fixture scheduled for April 20 and the season concluding on the weekend of May 18/19.

PA