Rangers make formal request to violate ‘sporting integrity’…

Rangers have officially requested to the SPFL a reschedule of matches in the coming days/weeks in order to help the European run, in a move which echoes the nightmare embarrassment of Manchester’s ‘Sporting Integrity’ nonsense.

Giovanni van Bronckhorst, buoyant after Sunday’s epic Old Firm win, confirmed moves are being made to try to ease the burden on Rangers with a switch in fixture scheduling, much like the English hierarchy are doing to assist fellow UEL semi finalists West Ham and Conference League high-flyers Leicester.

Whether the league’s governing body do help out this time remains to be seen, but we’re in little doubt Celtic will do what they can to hinder any such attempts.

“Of course, we can make the request and I think that’s what we are doing at the moment. But the SPFL has to agree and make sure the fixtures are moved. We will do everything we can to do so but the final call is the SPFL’s.”

Admittedly with Lawwell out of the picture Celtic don’t quite have the same fingers in pies in the way they did, and there’s more of a chance of it being granted this time.

But ultimately, it probably won’t be. There is always an excuse.