Rangers officially pull St Mirren postponement request as Ibrox chiefs perform walk back
The SPFL and Rangers have now confirmed that the Premiership clash against Stephen Robinson's men will go ahead as planned
Rangers have entered a new era
St Mirren vs Rangers will go ahead as planned after the Ibrox club withdrew their request to re-schedule.
Under new rules, Scottish Premiership clubs can request the league fixture sandwiched between both legs of European play-off ties can be postponed to help with preparations.
Aberdeen and Hibs have both taken the SPFL up on their option to push back games against Dundee Utd and Falkirk respectively, although Celtic have chosen not to ahead of their Champions League playoff round encounter.
Rangers have all but joined them after a 3-0 first leg victory over Viktoria Plzen in the third qualifying round, and had asked for their trip to Paisley to be rescheduled ahead of their playoff clash against either Club Brugge or RB Salzburg.
However, boss Russell Martin has since claimed that nothing had been decided following a stuttering start in the league that has seen the Light Blues held away to Motherwell and at home to Dundee.
Now SPFL beaks have confirmed that they will take on Stephen Robinson's men on the original date.
A statement read: "Following further discussions with Rangers, St Mirren, and relevant stakeholders, we can confirm that Rangers have withdrawn their request to postpone their William Hill Premiership Round 3 match against St Mirren if they reach the play-off round of the Champions League.
"The match will now take place as originally planned on Sunday August 24, kick-off 12 noon, with the game to be shown live on Sky Sports."
Follow Record Sport on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram for all of the up-to-the minute breaking news, video and audio on the SPFL, the Scotland national team and beyond.
Article continues below
You can get all the news you need on our dedicated Rangers and Celtic pages, and sign up to our newsletters to make sure you never miss a beat throughout the season.
We're also WhatsApp where we bring all the latest breaking news and transfer gossip directly to you phone. Join our Rangers community here and our Celtic community here.
Tune in to Hotline Live every Sunday to Thursday and have your say on the biggest issues in Scottish football and listen to Record Sport's newest podcast, Game On, every Friday for your sporting fix, all in bitesize chunks.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Metro
2 minutes ago
- Metro
Gianluigi Donnarumma makes decision over Man Utd move after Man City approach
Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma has reached an agreement to join Manchester City, according to reports in France. The Italy international says he has been left 'disappointed and disheartened' over the club's decision to sell him before the end of the summer transfer window. PSG have already signed a replacement for Donnarumma, with Lucas Chevalier joining from Lille in a deal worth €40 million (£34.6m) plus €15m (£12.9m) in add-ons. Donnarumma has now been left out of PSG's squad for their Super Cup final against Tottenham on Wednesday night as the 26-year-old attempts to find a new club. Both Manchester United and Manchester City have held talks with Donnarumma's agent, Enzo Raiola, over a possible move to the Premier League this summer. In The Mixer: Exclusive analysis, FPL tips and transfer talk sent straight to your inbox every week – sign up, it's an open goal. However, L'Equipe reports that Donnarumma has already spoken with Pep Guardiola and has reached a contractual agreement with City's hierarchy. The report adds that City are waiting for Ederson to finalise his move to Turkish side Galatasaray before pressing ahead with an offer to PSG. Donnarumma, whose contract with PSG expires next year, has also been open to joining Manchester United but Ruben Amorim's side have been unable to offload Andre Onana. Speaking before PSG's Super Cup final against Tottenham, Luis Enrique took responsibility for the decision that will see Donnarumma leave the club. 'Donnarumma is one of the best goalkeepers in the world, no doubt, and even better as a person,' Luis Enrique said. 'But this is the life of high-level footballers. I am 100 per cent responsible for this difficult decision. 'If it were easy, anyone would do it, these decisions have to do with the profile of the goalkeeper that my team needs.' Meanwhile, Donnarumma's agent has hit out at PSG over their conduct during negotiations over a new contract for the 26-year-old. 'We are shocked by PSG. There's zero respect by the club after four years together. PSG had made various demands,' Raiola told Sky Sport Italy. More Trending 'In the end, we accepted an offer lower than Gigio's current salary because he wanted to stay. Then they changed the rules, and at that point, we broke off negotiations to meet again after the Champions League final. We met again before the Club World Cup, and they confirmed their willingness to continue. We didn't expect what happened in the last ten days. 'I understand the need to buy a new goalkeeper, but dismissing Gigio after everything he's done for the club is a huge lack of respect that I will assess with my lawyers. 'Beyond the fact that it was the coach who made this decision, he also works for the club, and my lawyers and I want to better understand their position. 'A month ago, we were talking about renewing his contract, it's strange that in a month, the coach changed his mind about Gigio as a player. This is what saddens me the most and makes me think that in the end, it was better not to renew his contract.' For more stories like this, check our sport page. Follow Metro Sport for the latest news on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. MORE: Rio Ferdinand makes Premier League title, top four and Man Utd finish predictions MORE: Theo Walcott says £68m star should reject Arsenal transfer MORE: Arsenal captain Martin Odegaard warned he could be replaced by Mikel Arteta's £68m transfer target
Metro
2 minutes ago
- Metro
How to stream football for less this summer as the Premier League returns
As ever it seems like the football season has only just ended, and that's not far from the truth with the Women's Euros and Club World Cup still dominating headlines just a few weeks ago. But the Premier League is back this weekend, and for many fans in lower leagues, their teams kicked off almost a fortnight ago. As a Crystal Palace fan, for the first time we've not just got league football but European matches, too. Since I don't live in London any more, scheduling trips down south to coincide with games isn't easy. And it's not cheap either – it can easily cost £60, if not more, for a ticket. I'll try to see some away games closer to where I live and, thanks to a £30 match ticket cap, these are a bargain. For the majority of games though, I'll be relying on TV to see how my beloved Eagles get on – especially in our adventures on the continent. And that's how many top tier fans are likely to engage in the coming season. But even though a subscription to Sky Sports and TNT Sports will cost less than a season ticket, that doesn't make it cheap. Go via the big pay-TV companies such as Sky, Virgin and EE TV, and you'll be locking yourself into long contracts, as much as two years, while also committing yourself (and your wallet) to paying for other TV channels. To view this video please enable JavaScript, and consider upgrading to a web browser that supports HTML5 video As an example, a new Sky Q customer will be paying £32 a month for the Essential TV channels, another £19 a month for Sky Sports and a further £24 a month for TNT Sports. That's £75 a month or £900 a year. And that's a discounted price! Full whack would add another £24 a month on top. Plus you'd need to pay even more for HD viewing. The good news is you can pay less, though with some compromises. You can call up and haggle, though that will still lock you in. I'd personally kick the big guns into touch, and transfer over to pay-as-you-go streaming services. So you will forfeit the ability to record, but with so much TV viewing now on apps like iPlayer, Netflix and Disney, this shouldn't be too much of a shock. Though you might bump into a dodgy bloke in a pub sharing a cracked Firestick, the fair way to do this is via NOW (which is owned by Sky) for Sky Sports and Discovery+ (owners of TNT Sports). Both will let you stream on a month-by-month basis without further commitment or the requirement to sign up for extra channels. At full price this won't seem any cheaper at first. A month Sky Sports pass on NOW costs £34.99, and a month of Discovery+ Premium is £30.99. Combined that's only £9 less than the welcome offer I spotted for Sky Q. If you do want the additional channels provided in that Sky Q deal, that could be worth paying. However, you now need to factor in the flexibility. If your team isn't on every week (and if you don't support one of the big sides in the Premier League, they won't be. Especially so on TNT Sports where there are far fewer matches outside of European football), there will be periods where you can cancel your pass. More Trending And if you're not fussed about other sports, you can do this in the off-season too. When you want to watch again, you can reactivate your membership. And with NOW/Sky Sports, you can also get that £34.99 down thanks to regular offers. I'm keeping an eye out as an ex-customer for a £19.99 season pass this week, which has appeared most years via email. But failing that I'd hope to get the price down to £26. Even if I pay full price, I'll be using my tried and tested cancellation hack. With most NOW passes, including Sport, if you go through the cancellation process, you'll usually be offered a discount to stay for another month. The only drawback in recent months is these promotions sometimes come with a six-month minimum so may not be worth it. View More » A quick final mention for anyone following Champions League matches. Some games will be shown on Amazon Prime. Rather than pay £95 for a year, I'd recommend paying for the Prime Video-only membership. For £5.99 a month you can cancel at any time, or if you want extra Amazon features, just pay an extra £3 in those months to upgrade. MORE: Gianluigi Donnarumma makes decision over Manchester United transfer after Man City approach MORE: Rio Ferdinand makes Premier League title, top four and Man Utd finish predictions MORE: Theo Walcott says £68m star should reject Arsenal transfer Your free newsletter guide to the best London has on offer, from drinks deals to restaurant reviews.
Daily Record
2 minutes ago
- Daily Record
Who are Kairat Almaty? Celtic foes with Chelsea bound wonderkid offer up gruelling Champions League journey into unknown
It's a hell of a tie for Celtic who face a gruelling Champions League trip to Kazakhstan A gruelling trip to Kazakhstan is what stands between Celtic and the Champions League proper – and what a journey it promises to be for Brendan Rodgers and the brave band of Hoops diehards who make it. When the names came out of the hat, it looked a good draw for Celtic who learned it was either Kairat Almaty or last season's foes Slovan Bratislava waiting in the playoff round. Their third qualifying round encounter went all the way to penalties but eventually it was Kairat, courtesy of a penalty from Jorginho (not that one), who advanced to put them within one tie of a first ever Champions League appearance. Celtic though will be out to deny them that, and the Hoops are heavy favourites against a team who have only once played European tournament football in their history. As they know from experience, though, trips to Kazakhstan aren't always as straightforward as they seem. So, who actually are Kairat Almaty? And what sort of challenge do they pose to Brendan Rodgers and his team? Record Sport takes a look at what lies in wait for Celtic. Who are Kairat Almaty? There are two major footballing forces in Kazakhstan. One of them is Astana, who Celtic faced back in 2017 – and lost the return leg 4-3 after dishing out a Parkhead hammering. The other is Kairat, the current reigning champions who are out to make history this season. A footballing force from the days of the Soviet League, which they won twice in 1976 and 1983, Kairat have risen back to prominence over the last decade and a half and won the Kazakhstan Premier League for the fourth time in their history last season. They've come through every round of Champions League qualifying to get here, and had to come back from a 2-0 first leg defeat to Finnish side Kuopion Palloseura to set up their thriller with Slovan. They are very much a modern day force of football in central Asia and have taken strides under former Kazakh international Rafael Urazbakhtin since he took over last year. Qualifying for the Champions League proper would be an historic accomplishment for them – though regulars in the qualifying phases, they have only once played European tournament football, and that was in the Conference League in 2021-22. They boast a largely homegrown squad, including talisman and wonderkid Dastan Satpaev who has already secured a move to Chelsea after he turns 18 (more on him later). But they also have a large Brazilian and Portuguese contingent, like striker Jorginho and left-back Luis Mata who they will be leaning on to provide the flare to damage Celtic. Where do Kairat Almaty play? The short answer? Miles away. This is the fun bit as far as Celtic fans are concerned. The country itself is further east than Afghanistan, but Almaty is on the very, very far side of Kazakhstan. 4,500 miles separates Glasgow from Almaty, and the quickest the trip can be done takes over 13 hours, with a stop in Frankfurt along the way. Once you reach Astana – where Celtic fans flocked in 2017 – it's a further 1,000 miles south east. It's a trip that separates the men from the boys. Once you get there, though, it all looks pretty nice. Much like the 30,000 seater stadium rivals Astana play at, Kairat boast an elite standard 23,800 capacity stadium simply named Central Stadium, which they have owned since 2015. The turf purists will be happy, because unlike their rivals, Kairat's home stadium has a grass pitch rather than a synthetic surface. How good are they? Celtic will be heavy favourites – early odds have Kairat at around 12/1 to cause an upset at Parkhead next week – but make no mistake, the Kazakhs are handy. In recent years, they've beaten sides like Red Star Belgrade and AZ Alkmaar in Europe so this stage is nothing new to them. They've also faced Scottish opposition in the not too distant past – in 2015, they dumped Aberdeen out in Europa League qualifying before losing to Bordeaux. Last year they tipped Astana to the title by a single point and lead them by three heading into final stretch of the 2025 campaign. The fact they already have 19 league games and three European ties under their belt also means they are likely to be sharper than Celtic who are still getting going for the season. Kairat Almaty's danger men Dastan Satpaev is the name on everyone's lips as far as Kazakh football is concerned. He only just turned 17 this week, and has already sealed a £2m move to Chelsea which he'll make official next year after he turns 18. Long established as a wonderkid to watch, he's already scored three times in Champions League qualifying this season including the winner in the first leg with Slovan. He's also been capped three times by his country. Again; he only turned 17 this week. Portuguese striker Jorginho is also a threat while midfielders Valery Gromkyo and Giorgi Zaria offer goals from deep. They tend to spread the goals around and are proficient from set pieces. Celtic face them at Parkhead on Wednesday, August 20 and will be aiming for a convincing victory that makes the gruelling trip east a week later that little bit less stressful. If they don't get that, there's always a chance it could get hairy over there.
