News

Levein, Regan content with fixture schedule

Wednesday, 23 November 2011

CRAIG Levein and Stewart Regan declared themselves satisfied with the outcome of a tense FIFA World Cup 2014 Qualification Group A dates meeting in Brussels.
 

Scotland start their campaign with a home double-header against Serbia and Macedonia in September 2012, the first game taking place on a Saturday afternoon.
 

They are then on their travels in October, against Wales on the 12th and Belgium on the 16th. Scotland will play Wales at Hampden Park on Friday, March 22 and then travel to play Serbia four days later.
 

The national team will play Croatia on Friday, June 7, with a provisional 9pm kick-off local time, then face Belgium at Hampden on Friday, September 6 before meeting Macedonia on the 10th with an evening kick-off.
 

Croatia, the top seeds, then visit Hampden in the last match of the campaign on Tuesday October 11.
 

“It was tense, fraught at times but enjoyable and ultimately we are very pleased with the outcome,” the national team coach told www.scottishfa.co.uk
 

“At various stages we thought we had reached agreement but then negotiations broke down again. You could write a book about some of it. From our point of view, we got most of what we came for: two home games to start the campaign with, at least one Saturday afternoon kick-off at home for the sake of our supporters and a home game to finish with.

“Obviously playing Croatia in June was the one concession but with an evening kick-off I was prepared to make that sacrifice in order to protect our other wishes.”

Stewart Regan, the chief executive, was equally pleased and expressed particular gratitude to Strathclyde Police for accommodating two home Friday night fixtures.

“Obviously we went in to the meeting aware of the potential difficulties in negotiating while not being allowed to play on a Friday night but after positive discussions with the police, they have given approval for us to play on a Friday, which is a huge help to Craig in terms of giving the squad extra recovery time between games in a double header.”