Celtic press for deal on fixtures

Reid has repeated Celtic's desire for a winter break

Celtic chairman John Reid has urged the Scottish Premier League to produce an agreement on guidelines for fixture changes before the start of the season.

He welcomed talks with the other 11 clubs designed to avoid a repeat of last season's fixture chaos.

Reid said it was fair that this should be pre-determined at the beginning of the season and understood by all clubs.

But SPL secretary Iain Blair told BBC Sport: "I don't see any changes being likely before the start of the season."

Rangers' hopes of winning the title and the Uefa Cup last season suffered from a fixture pile-up.

The Ibrox club failed in their attempt to have their league game against Dundee United postponed, to give them extra time to prepare for the Uefa Cup final against Zenit St Petersburg.

And Celtic were left angry after the SPL extended the season by four days because of Rangers' European games.

But Blair pointed out that its fixture working group had been making steady improvements, leading to the adoption of a new system for the creation of this season's fixture list..

In the interests of clarity and fairness, it should be pre-determined at the beginning of the season and understood and agreed by all clubs Celtic chairman John Reid

"We are constantly looking at ways of improving the preparation of fixtures and their management," said the league secretary, who hoped that last season's problems would not be repeated.

However, Celtic, while welcoming what they call "positive dialogue" between the clubs, are pressing for an agreement before the season starts on 9 August.

"Celtic Football Club fully understands and supports in principle the requirement to have flexibility in relation to fixture scheduling," said Reid.

"We would back any measure to achieve this objective.

"However, it is clear and only common sense that such an approach should, in the interests of clarity and fairness, be one which is pre-determined at the beginning of the season and understood and agreed by all clubs.

"As a club, we have encouraged debate on this issue for some time and we will continue to work with all other parties in the Scottish game to ensure that agreement on this matter can be reached.

"Football supporters are the lifeblood of the game and these supporters of all clubs who travel great distances to matches and make a substantial financial commitment to our game deserve a structured approach to fixture scheduling, accepting clearly the need to accommodate any television changes.

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"Ad-hoc changes to fixtures and the consequences of these decisions impact heavily on supporters. These supporters can only benefit from a more focused approach."

Reid also repeated Celtic's support for the re-introduction of the SPL closedown, the January break having been scrapped in 2002.

"For some time, Celtic Football Club has also supported the re-introduction of the SPL winter break, something which we feel would be of great benefit to the quality of the quality of the game in Scotland. This is also a measure we will continue to promote," he said.

"Fixture flexibility and a winter break are both initiatives which would allow improved preparation for European competition, thus improving performance, co-efficient and therefore increased participation of Scottish clubs in Europe, something we all aspire to.

"We're pleased to have taken part in a constructive meeting with all other SPL clubs on this issue and we look forward to further dialogue within the SPL and with other bodies in Scotland to ensure that a coherent, sensible and transparent scheduling structure exists."