Someone is making tricks – Brendan Rodgers on Celtic’s festive fixture change

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers questioned whether someone was “making tricks” over their festive fixtures after his club’s trip to Dundee was moved to Boxing Day.

Rodgers and Motherwell have both expressed frustration on behalf of supporters after two cinch Premiership games were moved to accommodate live television coverage.

Motherwell’s Fir Park clash with Rangers has been moved from the Saturday afternoon of December 23 to a noon kick-off on Christmas Eve.

Celtic’s game at Dens Park will now take place at 3pm on Boxing Day instead of with the rest of the December 27 evening fixture card.

Fixture amendment for Sky Sports Coverage

Our home match against Celtic originally scheduled for Wednesday 27th December at 7:45pm has been selected for live broadcast on Sky Sports and has been moved to Tuesday 26th December with a 3pm kick-off.#thedee pic.twitter.com/D5AQn4e09u

— Dundee Football Club (@DundeeFC) October 27, 2023

“It’s not ideal,” Rodgers said. “Obviously we would have preferred it to stay as it was. Especially at that time of the year.

“It’s interesting actually, I am pretty sure I’m correct in this, I think the last seven years Celtic have been away at that period of the season.

“So either we are very, very unlucky to be drawn away, or someone is making tricks behind the scenes.

“For seven years on the spin this club have been away at that time of the season. That’s not right for supporters.

“So hopefully they can maybe look at that going forward.”

Celtic’s previous six fixtures immediately after Christmas Day have been away against Hibernian, Hearts, Hamilton, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Dundee – five of them were on Boxing Day.

Motherwell revealed they were given one hour’s notice before the Scottish Professional Football League was initially going to announce their fixture change on Thursday afternoon.

Any representations the club made proved futile before the announcement was eventually made on Friday.

We will now face Rangers on Christmas Eve, live on Sky Sports.

— Motherwell FC (@MotherwellFC) October 27, 2023

Motherwell acknowledged the broadcast contract allowed for such changes but claimed “moving a major fixture to this date is a special circumstance that should’ve led to additional consultation/ discussion with the club”.

A statement added: “We can only apologise to supporters who will be inconvenienced by this move and especially to those who will no longer be able to attend the game.

“We understand this move is particularly inconvenient for fans who had booked pre-match hospitality, which was already sold out.

“We are working with suppliers to provide an alternative offering pre- and post-match. We hope to still see as many of our fans as possible at the game.”