Inverness Caledonian Thistle reaching the Scottish Cup final has raised the prospect of St Johnstone and Dundee United seeing their season extended by a further week.
With five bottom-six fixtures left, both Tayside clubs face the threat of having to take part in the Premiership play-off final.
The SPFL have pencilled in four different dates for the home and away contests.
If Caley Thistle don’t reach that stage, the games will be played on Thursday June 1 (8pm kick-off) and Sunday June 4 (4.30pm kick-off).
But should Billy Dodds’ side be successful in claiming a spot in the play-offs by beating Ayr United on Friday night, and then progress through the next two rounds as they did last season, the final matches are scheduled for Tuesday June 6 and Friday June 9.
That’s the week after the Scottish Cup final.
SPFL play offs may mean short summer for St Johnstone or Dundee United
Either way, it would be an extremely short summer break for United or Saints – particularly relevant for the Perth club, who hope to get more extensive work done on their McDiarmid Park pitch than they were able to a year ago.
Next season’s Viaplay Cup group games begin on the weekend of July 15/16, potentially just over a month after the last game of 2022/23.
The footballing bonus of facing Caley Thistle, who Saints beat convincingly last year, would be that they would be at the end of a gruelling play-off and cup schedule.
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