The Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League will release next season’s fixtures separately this morning as power-brokers finalise plans for the new league structure.
It is understood the announcement, which will be made simultaneously at 9am, will show the matches to take place in the Premier League and the SFL’s First, Second and Third Divisions as officials wait for a re-branding of the leagues.
Due diligence and the legal formalities associated with the switch to the Scottish Professional Football League are due to be completed by June 27 following last week’s SFL vote to give reconstruction the green light.
However, without confirmation of what the new divisions will be called, with a Championship, League One and League Two mooted for the SFL’s leagues, the fixtures will be announced to the public in their current format.
SFL officials have been given added headaches in making up the fixtures this summer by Dundee’s relegation from the SPL, meaning co-ordination between the two governing bodies has been required to try to avoid clashes involving Celtic and Rangers, and the two Dundee clubs.
In addition, Queen’s Park are due to ground share with Airdrie United from late November as Hampden Park is made ready to host next year’s Commonwealth Games and Stenhousemuir and East Stirlingshire already both play at Ochilview, while the possibility for Queen of the South, Hamilton and Falkirk to ground share temporarily as they install new artificial surfaces has also had to be built into the list.
The fixtures for the English Premier League and the Football League are also set to be announced today.
Inevitably most of the attention will be on the elite of the Barclays Premier League, which will return in August swelled by the riches of a new television deal and with a fresh look.
That comes about as Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Everton and Stoke have all changed managers while the aforementioned Cardiff, Hull and Palace have replaced Wigan, Reading and QPR.
The League have released six fixtures early, all with historical connections, to mark the competition’s 125th anniversary.
They include the Bolton v Burnley and Derby v Blackburn games in the Championship both between founder members as is Preston v Wolves in League One.