Brendan Rodgers questions fixture list as Celtic's match moved to Boxing Day

Brendan Rodgers has questioned the SPFL’s fixture list, saying that it’s not fair on Celtic supporters that the club repeatedly has away games after Christmas.

Rodgers said that the pattern of fixtures over the last seven years meant the club was “very, very unlucky” or that “someone’s making tricks behind the scenes”.

The league body announced on Friday that the champions’ Premiership game away to Dundee had been moved forward from the evening of December 27 to a 3pm kick-off on Boxing Day.

The Celtic manager said that the change of date and time, made for television broadcast reasons, was “not ideal” but also raised a trend in recent years.

Rodgers noted that it would be the seventh year in a row that Celtic’s first game after Christmas has been away from home.

In the last six year, the Parkhead side have faced trips to Hibernian, St Johnstone, Hamilton, St Mirren, Aberdeen and Dundee, mostly on Boxing Day.

Whan asked about the change to the Dundee game, he said: “I saw that. It’s not ideal and we would have preferred it to stay as it was.

“Especially at that time of the year. It’s interesting, I think the last seven years have been away at that period of the season.

“Either we’re very, very unlucky to be drawn away or someone’s making tricks behind the scenes.

“Seven years on the spin this club’s been drawn away at that time of the season.

“Now that’s not right for supporters. So hopefully they can look at that going forward.”

Ahead of his side’s match against Hibernian, Rodgers also gave an injury update on Reo Hatate, who faces a spell on the sidelines with a hamstring injury.

“We don’t have a definitive timeline but he will definitely be out for a few weeks,” the Celtic boss said. “We are just waiting for it to settle down and waiting for the result and we will see where he’s at but it looked quite a bad one.

“If you watch the game, the first 35 seconds he has over-stretched and he has felt it early on.

“It’s such a shame for him. It’s a different one. He was out with his hamstring last year, it’s his other one this time. So we just need to try to get to the bottom of that.”