SFA seek staggered season start

The Scottish Football Association have confirmed they will ask the Scottish Premier League to consider moving fixtures at the start of next season in a bid to help the national team prepare for their World Cup qualifier in Norway.

The SFA were furious when the SPL announced last month that the the 2009-10 top-flight campaign would kick off on August 8, just four days before Scotland travel to Oslo for what could be a make-or-break international.

Manager George Burley had asked for an August 1 start to the season to avoid his players going into the World Cup qualifying Group 9 clash undercooked.

Now that request has been turned down, Burley is pondering how best to prepare his squad.

Reports today claim the Scotland boss would rather have a long build-up to the Norway game and is therefore looking to assemble his players on August 6.

That would mean asking the SPL to stagger the start of their season, with teams containing Scotland stars kicking off on August 15 – a week later than their rivals.

An SFA spokesman told PA Sport: “We’d hope the Scottish Premier League would understand the importance of this game for the World Cup campaign and for Scottish football at large and that they would be willing to look at the fixtures to see what could be done to help the national team.”

The SFA, SPL and Scottish Football League will all meet next month to cement the schedule for next season.

The SFA spokesman added: “We will certainly be speaking to the SPL and we certainly want the fixtures co-ordination meeting to go ahead in February.

“I don’t think we’ll go in there with a fixed proposal about postponing games.

“But what’s clear is our number one priority is to help the national team.”