RONNY DEILA, the manager of Celtic, has stated that Scottish football's authorities must find a way in the wake of a chaotic and embarrassing week for the game to stand up to the demands of television companies.

Neil Doncaster, the chief executive of the Scottish Professional Football League, is coming under fire on several fronts over his organisation's stewardship of the national sport and the host of rows that have developed over the fixture lists for the closing weeks of the campaign.

Hibernian and Hearts have demanded an investigation into the workings of the SPFL after they struck an agreement with Sky Sports to switch Rangers' visit to Hearts on the final weekend of the Championship to Sunday, May 3 - a day after their rivals for second place, Hibernian, were scheduled to finish their campaign at Falkirk.

Both Edinburgh clubs insisted this compromised the "sporting integrity" of the competition. Prior to agreeing with Sky that all matches will now take place at 12.15pm on the Saturday, the SPFL released an astonishing statement from an unnamed spokesman which claimed they were unable to understand the fuss.

Celtic, meanwhile, were informed that they will not have another game at 3pm on a Saturday when the post-split fixture list was eventually given to Premiership clubs. The defending champions have had only four home league matches played at that most traditional of times all season.

"TV is an issue that I don't like in terms of the kick-off times," said Deila. "It should not be TV that controls football. It should be the opposite.

"It should be about the supporters and the clubs, so that they can make money by getting people into the stands because that is what we live for.

"I understand the economics of it are so important and that television takes over and take control, but I don't like that. It's not the best for people who like football.

"Communication is very important. It's the same when I am talking with (Celtic chief executive) Peter Lawwell. I want certain things and he wants his things. We both put our points across hard and, then, we compromise.

"I think it should be the same between the clubs and television. There has to be give and take.

"In this matter we don't have much of a say. We have to play most of our games at 12 o'clock and that's not the best for our supporters."

Celtic meet Inverness Caledonian Thistle in the semi-finals of the William Hill Scottish Cup at Hampden Park tomorrow afternoon. The match will be televised by Sky Sports with supporters of the Highland side facing a 200-mile trip for a 12.15pm kick-off.

"It has to be a challenge for them," observed Deila. "Again, TV is being put ahead of supporters."

Deila is equally alarmed by the failure of the SPFL to realise that allowing Rangers to play their final league match 24 hours after the other four fixtures was likely to give them an advantage over their rivals for second place in the table.

"In my opinion, in the last two rounds of matches, every team should play at the same time," he said. "It means you cannot play knowing other results."

Sky Sports and BT Sport pay around £16m-a-year in order to broadcast live Scottish football. The BBC put in an estimated £3m-a-year for their TV and radio rights. The English Premiership's latest television deals are worth a combined total of £5.136bn over three seasons from 2016-17.

Deila believes it is necessary to play more matches at the times the supporters demand or face up to the fact they will stop buying season tickets and stop going to games.

"There are different traditions in different countries," he said. "In Norway, the best time was six o'clock on a Sunday, but, now, they are doing different times,

"In the end, you don't know when games are going on. It's so hard to plan the weekend with the family and also get to the games.

"If Saturday at 3 o'clock is the best for Scotland, we should play more at that time.

"I would also rather play at six in the evening than 12 in the morning. Football should be played at night because you get a better atmosphere in the arena.

"It's a big problem for us. We need supporters to come to the games. We need interest and television needs it as well.

"If there are no people in the stadiums, it will be more boring to watch."