Allan McGregor has taken a thinly-veiled swipe at Celtic as the Rangers keeper called into question the “sporting integrity” behind the the decision to bring forward the January shut-down.
Gers have seen trips to Aberdeen and Celtic Park pushed back a month after the SPFL board ordered an early winter break in response to the Omicron threat.
But McGregor insists it is time the game learned to live with Covid as he hit out at the Hampden decision-makers for moving the fixture goal-posts.
The Ibrox veteran was part of the Walter Smith squad back in 2008 forced to play their final three league games over the space of five days because of a fixture pile-up in part caused by Gers’ run to the finals of both the Uefa Cup and Scottish Cup.
The Light Blues had applied to have the season extended - but their plea was rejected when Celtic chiefs, eyeing a money-spinning pre-season tour to Japan, raised objections under the grounds of 'sporting integrity’.
Asked if rival clubs who had voted to start the winter shutdown after the Boxing Day round of fixtures were looking to gain an advantage for themselves, he said: “Well, we all know that sporting integrity is one of the biggest things in Scotland, don’t we?
“So I’d would like to hope not.
“But I don’t see why it didn’t go on the way as planned, from my personal opinion.
“But sporting… if that is the case, woaaff!
“Sporting integrity as we know in the last number of years is a massive part of Scottish football.”
Rangers will face a Covid-hit St Mirren side on Sunday in front of just 500 fans after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon ordered savage restrictions on large gatherings.
But McGregor fears this is the start of a never-ending series of partial lockdowns set to be enforced on Scottish football unless the game “learns to live” with the virus.
He said: “If there’s a new variant in three months, four months, five months, which there probably will be, are we going to shut up shop again?
“Are we going to keep doing it when there’s a new variant every few months?
“I don’t know. I think we just need to learn to live with it. We take all the precautions we possibly can.
“It’s unfortunate that clubs have got Covid but it’s going to happen.
“I think we just need to live with that.
“The hierarchy want clubs to do well in Europe, they want the national team to do well and qualify. There’s loads of games throughout the season.
“Covid didn’t go away at the start of the season, it’s still here. It’s going to be here for a while.
“Why not have five subs as well?”
Gers return to action on January 18 with their rescheduled December 29 trip to Pittodrie.
And with the prospect of winter weather forcing further postponements in the weeks to come, McGregor insisted the blame for another pile-up will lie on Hampden’s sixth floor.
The 39-year-old said: “Well they knew [about the threat of fixture congestion] when they made the decision and still made it.
“So it’s on them, really, if the weather is bad.”
