Alan Archibald, the Partick Thistle manager, has slammed the SPFL for allowing the postponement of his side’s meeting with Celtic this weekend, branding the rule which allows the champions to play a friendly against Inter Milan instead as “farcical”.
Thistle were left fuming after their schedule was affected for the second time in three years by Celtic exercising their right to play a friendly during the league season, and while Archibald has no gripe with the champions for taking advantage of the rules, he has urged the SPFL not to allow competitive fixtures to be postponed for friendlies in the future as he believes it makes the league look like a laughing stock.
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“I do think it’s a bit farcical whoever it happens to,” Archibald said. “I think it’s disrespectful to the rest of the teams and it makes the league look poor, I don’t think it happens anywhere else that I’m aware of.
“It’s not great to have a weekend off but it’s happened to us again. It would be better if we were all playing every Saturday, and it gives other teams a chance to catch back up with us.
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“I’m not saying that we were going to go and beat Celtic, but who is to say that we weren’t going to go and do it?
“I think and certainly hope that they address it soon, it’s just something we need to deal with though and it’s for the powers that be to deal with it.
“I don’t have too much to say about it because it will sound like sour grapes, but it’s happened to us again and we just need to get on with it."
Despite the disappointing defeat to Dundee United in the Betfred Cup on Tuesday night, Thistle have started the season in good form.
Now Archibald faces a free weekend just as he felt his players were regaining their match sharpness, and he feels that will put his side at a disadvantage compared to their rivals who are playing.
“It’s a little bit frustrating,” he said. “When you’re winning games you want to keep it going, but the double-edged sword is that it allows us to rest up for ten days before a tough, tough trip to Pittodrie.
“We might get the weekend off, we’ll see what injuries we’ve got and we’ll base it on that after speaking to the sports science guys.
“We’ll probably get closed doors game on Friday or Saturday for the guys who haven’t played as much.”
Meanwhile, the Firhill side were dealt a blow yesterday with the news that midfielder Stuart Bannigan will require surgery on the knee injury that has kept him out of action since March.
It was hoped that Bannigan – who signed a new two-year deal at the club in the summer – would avoid having to go under the knife, but after consulting with a specialist it is now felt that an operation would be the best course of action. He could now potentially be out for a further six to nine months.
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