SPL confirms new season start date

The Scottish Premier League has announced next season will kick off on August 3 despite uncertainty lingering over the structure of the game north of the border.

SPL clubs are due to vote on reform proposals on April 15 which would see the body merge with the Scottish Football League.

But the league confirmed next season’s start date in a short statement, which also revealed Celtic would again postpone an early fixture in order to play a friendly.

The statement read: “The SPL board today announced that season 2013/14 will start on Saturday August 3.

“At a recent meeting, the board also agreed to allow clubs the option to request a postponement of their SPL fixture to play a friendly on the weekend of August 10. The only club to submit a request was Celtic FC.”