Burley awaits fixtures decision

George Burley will find out today if the Scottish Premier League will grant his request to cancel the league fixtures immediately prior to the World Cup qualifier in Norway on August 12.

The Scotland boss had publicly pleaded for the opening-day games of the 2009-10 Clydesdale Bank Premier League on August 8 to be cancelled to give him the six days he wants to prepare his squad for the trip to Oslo.

A written request from the Scottish Football Association was discussed at the SPL’s board meeting at Hampden yesterday but it was decided that no definitive decision would be taken until talks between the SPL and SFA took place.

Afterwards, SPL secretary Iain Blair met SFA chief executive Gordon Smith who, it is understood, has offered to move a Homecoming Scottish Cup date to midweek to accommodate the delay to the SPL campaign.

Blair will put the SFA’s proposal to the SPL board this morning and although at times the issue has been in danger of turning in to an SPL versus SFA story, both parties appeared confident that a compromise will be reached.

Smith would not confirm the nature of the proposal put to the SPL but said:

“There has been no point scoring or anything like that.

“It is an issue that has to be addressed in the right manner.

“We have made a request to the SPL and we are hoping that it will be agreed.

“We are hoping that we will be successful and the fixtures on August 8 are cancelled.

“We have had a very constructive meeting with Iain Blair and we have put a proposal to the SPL regarding this matter

“He will take it to his board and have discussions and we should have an answer within 24 hours.”

An SFA source praised Blair for his willingness to find a solution.

Earlier, the SPL secretary had emerged from the board meeting to say: “The challenge is looking for dates to play the games that should have taken place on the 8th of August.

“We have international fixtures, the Scottish Cup, the Co-operative Insurance Cup, all of which we respect and make allowances for within our fixture schedule and that means there is no obvious date to move to.

“But the SPL have always sought to do everything we can to help the international team.”