RONNY Deila has criticised Sky Sports for making Celtic and Aberdeen kick-off at noon tomorrow in order to give priority to and English Championship game two hours later.
The top-of-the-table SPFL Premiership game has a 12pm start at Parkhead and will be shown live on Sky Sports 3, which has given its more attractive 2.05pm slot to Norwich against Ipswich, the clubs currently fifth and third respectively in the Sky Bet Championship.
Celtic's flight home from Italy landed around 1.45am on Friday after the disappointment of going out of the Europa League to Inter Milan, meaning they had only a little over 58 hours before taking on the team breathing down their necks at the top of the table. But Deila, the Celtic manager, was less concerned with the squeezed recovery time than the disrespect of moving Scotland's major fixture to an unattractive time on the schedule.
"I don't understand," he said. "I understand it is the media controlling it, and television, and because they want to have it on Sky Sports we have to play before everyone else in England because that it is 'the most important thing'. But when does it stop? Are we going to play at 10 o'clock soon? The crowd as well: we have to think of the fans. At 3 o'clock more people come and it would be a bigger game. This is a big game in Scotland and it should be getting the prime time."
He declined to speculate about the game being moved for the East Anglia derby but insisted that Celtic-Aberdeen deserved better. "I think so. This is a very big game and it should be the prime time on television. I think Celtic and Aberdeen deserve more respect. I don't think there will be 50,000 at that game down there [Norwich]. It's a huge game, the support is unbelievable and the interest is very good. I think 12 o'clock is not good."
Meanwhile Celtic have been hit with yet more Uefa charges after incidents at the Milan game. Disciplinary proceedings were opened by the European governing body after flares were lit among the travelling support in the San Siro, with a separate charge relating to "improper conduct of the team" after Virgil van Dijk was sent-off and Craig Gordon, Adam Matthews, Nir Bitton, Emilio Izaguirre and Kris Commons booked. Inter Milan have also been charged by Uefa for their fans setting off fireworks. The cases will be heard on March 19.
The charges are the ninth and tenth Celtic have faced from Uefa in the last eight years, with flares a particular problem among an element of their travelling support in Europe. Their most recent punishment came only on Thursday, when there was a £7,300 fine from Uefa's Control, Ethics and Disciplinary Body for the behaviour of some fans at their game against Dynamo Zagreb in Crotia in December. In total the club has been fined over £150,000.
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