Alex McLeish has been granted his wish after the Scottish Premier League
agreed to postpone the matches involving Rangers and Celtic on the weekend
before the crunch Euro 2008 qualifier against Italy.
The SPL have called off Celtic's home match against Falkirk on November 10,
and Rangers' fixture at St Mirren on November 11, and both games will be
rearranged for future dates.
Scotland manager McLeish had called for both clubs, from which he draws a
significant number of his squad and first-choice line-up, to be given a free
weekend.
Scotland face Italy on November 17 at Hampden, and the Old Firm players were
facing hectic schedules in the run-up to the game.
Each manager from the four clubs involved agreed to the postponement.
Following a meeting of the SPL board in Glasgow it was decided, for the sake
of the national team, to accept the Scottish Football Association's formal
request to call off both fixtures.
It was clear, however, that there was some reluctance on the SPL's part to
postpone the games.
And in a statement released tonight, SPL executive chairman Lex Gold revealed
the SFA had declined to make a financial contribution to the costs involved in
rearranging the games.
Gold said: 'It is a matter of considerable disappointment that the SFA has
refused to help defray the costs which will be incurred by our clubs.'
Following McLeish's request, the SPL had always looked certain to show their
support to the Scotland manager.
However a mountain of issues involved in altering the fixture schedule had to
be taken into consideration.
Gold said: 'Postponing games at short notice is fraught with fairness,
inconvenience, broadcasting and cost implications.
'We recognise, in particular, that this decision will inconvenience many
fans, thousands of whom have already made travel arrangements to attend the
matches.
'Our wish is to do all we can to support the efforts of the Scotland team at
a critical point and trust the fans will understand the exceptional
circumstances which led us to postpone the matches in question.
'I would also like to place on record my thanks to the clubs involved for
their constructive approach and to our broadcasting partners, Setanta Sports,
for their support.'
Players from Celtic and Rangers are approaching the midway point in a hectic
run of matches spread over 36 days.
Following today's decision, that run of games now consists of three Scotland
games, three SPL matches, two Champions League fixtures and a CIS Insurance Cup
quarter-final.
Crucially though they have the chance to take a breather between the Champions
League matches on November 6 and 7 - Celtic at home to Benfica, Rangers away to
Benfica - and the Italy match.
Victory against the world champions would assure Scotland of a place in next
summer's finals, but defeat would end their qualification hopes.
A draw would only suffice if France were to lose to Ukraine four days later.
The SFA asked only for the two matches involving Celtic and Rangers to be
postponed, however delaying the entire round of fixtures was considered by the
SPL.
League chiefs are understood to have been reluctant to allow clubs to get
ahead of other sides in terms of games played, but the significance of the Italy
match for all stakeholders in the Scottish game meant McLeish and the SFA were
eventually handed the news they wanted.
