Fixture Complications Don’t Concern Stubbs

Head coach Alan Stubbs has said he’s unconcerned by the possibility of our season extending itself into June of this year.

The scenario of a season extension could be possible if either/both Hibernian and Falkirk make the finals of both the Scottish Cup and the promotion play offs because of how the fixtures could fall especially with UEFA being adamant that no fixtures can take place on certain dates because of European competitions holding the assumption that fans of any team not in them – actually bothers to watch them.

In the current fixture list, the Scottish Cup final takes place at Hampden on May 30, and the play off final has been set for the Thursday ahead of the Cup Final and the day after.

With either club being concerned about recovery time, it’s said the SPFL are considering alternative dates should that scenario happen, but it complicates things because of the Europa League and Champions League finals taking place on May 27 and June 6.

In quotes carried by the Edinburgh News Stubbs said he was well aware of the eventualities, but they didn’t hold any concern for him.

‘The most important thing is we`ve got games before then so I don`t really want to speak about something we haven`t achieved yet. It`s important not to get too carried away. This possibility was always going to arise and the draw has made it more likely. If we do get to that stage, great. If we had to play Thursday, Saturday, Monday, in order to achieve success, then that`s what you have to do. When you are winning games, it doesn`t matter how quickly they come. You get on with it. We`ll cross that bridge when we get to it. We`ve heard there could be a Plan B in place, so we`ll see what that is.’

A further interesting complication for any extension into June, is the fact that some players’ registrations naturally run out on May 31, and on that score Stubbs said that early season ticket renewals would put the club in a position to move more quickly on fresh contract terms for those players in that position that they would like to keep.

‘We`ve spoken about it and we`re obviously in dialogue with the authorities over what we would do with that. If season ticket sales go well, we can do all our business early – and we wouldn`t have to cross that bridge. If we can have a really successful early push for season tickets, it will help us to do our business very early, to try to speak to the players who we want to keep and get their contracts sorted out.’

Stubbs said in terms of contract renewals though, and with the budget we have and being who we are, players inevitably leave for smaller clubs when they want to go, so he’s not concerned by that either. He’s only concerned with ensuring we have a competitive squad and irrespective of what division we are in – that doesn’t change.

‘The players can see we’re very ambitious, looking to build something successful with this group. We are going in the right direction. Whatever league we are in, if anyone wants to leave, more often than not, it’s not for a bigger club.’