Celtic: Chris Sutton issues verdict about club’s fixture list

Celtic legend Chris Sutton has been talking about the club’s fixture list and has hit back on those who may criticise it.

Sutton was recently a guest on the latest episode of the Record Celtic podcast. One of the things he chose to focus on was the club’s fixture list for the 2020/21 campaign and he had some harsh words for anyone who criticises it.

The fixtures for the upcoming Premiership season were recently released. Celtic will face Hamilton in their opening game of the campaign, but the Old Firm derby is scheduled to be played in the month of October (via Sky Sports).

Ally McCoist had recently talked to TalkSport (via Daily Record) about the scheduling of the Old Firm and he had referred to it as the “luck of the computer”.

While talking about the fixtures, Sutton said: “That’s the norm, isn’t it? Everybody’s looking for situations, but there’s been some quite high-profile people involved who have been commenting on this. I mean, it is actually laughable. People who have played the game, talking about conspiracies over the way the fixtures fall when you have to play everybody anyway.

“You couldn’t actually make that up. That tells you what they’re feeling up there and we know what’s at stake, but you have to play everybody. 38 games in the season – that’s it. It’s about endurance, it’s about consistency, seeing it through. Rangers haven’t done that in the last couple of seasons after Christmas, they have fallen away – that’s their big issue, not playing Aberdeen and blaming Neil Doncaster or whoever for the way the fixtures fall.”

Sutton seems to be clear about the fact that winning a title isn’t about who teams play first. It is more about consistency, endurance and not falling away like Rangers did after the Christmas period in the 2019/20 campaign.

TIF Thoughts…

Unlike the Gers, Celtic had enjoyed an impressive period in 2020. They didn’t lose a single Premiership game and were held to a draw only once during that period. They had lost only two games in the whole of the Premiership season otherwise, losing to Livingston and Rangers themselves (via Transfermarkt).

That is proof of the fact that Sutton is right. One reason Celtic won the title last season was that they were consistent, they had consistent spells and they didn’t fall away in 2020 like the Gers did. These factors are crucial to helping a team win the title.