McGhee and Mowbray poised for opening-day showdown at Pittodrie

Published on Wednesday 17 June 2009 23:30

TONY Mowbray and Mark McGhee will come head to head as the new managers of Celtic and Aberdeen respectively on the first day of the new season, Saturday 15 August.

The two clubs met in similar circumstances a decade ago when John Barnes had just taken the reins at Celtic Park and Ebbe Skovdahl had been appointed Pittodrie manager, and McGhee will hope that history does not repeat itself: Celtic won 5-0 that day.

New Year derbies in Edinburgh and Glasgow are at the heart of the 2009-10 fixture list, which was issued by the Scottish Premier League yesterday. Celtic are at home to Rangers and Hibs host Hearts on 2 January 2010, the same day that Dundee United meet Aberdeen and Motherwell play Hamilton Accies.

The last time the Old Firm met so close to New Year was in 2004, when Celtic were at home to Rangers on 3 January.

The last capital derby so close to the turn of the year was on 2 January 2005, when the teams played out a 1-1 draw at Easter Road.

Rangers will begin the defence of their title at home to Falkirk on Saturday, 15 August. Celtic, champions three years running until relinquishing the title to their bitter rivals last term, follow their visit to Aberdeen with a home game against newly-promoted St Johnstone.

Hearts, who were third last season, appear to have a particularly demanding start to season 2009-10 as they must visit Dundee United before playing their first home game against Rangers eight days later. Tynecastle manager Csaba Laszlo, however, said he was not worried about the fixture list.

"If I am being honest, I don't look for the opponent," Laszlo told the club website. "We must play everybody each season. It is in my nature to want to win every game, and that is what we will be trying to do."

Hibs' league season begins with a home game against St Mirren. They visit Tynecastle in the first derby of the season on 7 November, but it is the January meeting with their old rivals which is being regarded as the most appetising fixture of the season.

The third Edinburgh derby will be at Tynecastle on 20 March. A game at Ibrox on 3 October will be the first Old Firm meeting of the season, while the third, also at Rangers' ground, will take place on 27 February.

St Johnstone have been given a home game against Motherwell to kick off their return to Scottish football's top flight, before their first away match at Celtic Park. Kilmarnock are at home to Hamilton Accies on day one, then travel to Motherwell.

There are four midweek rounds of fixtures on the calendar at present: 30 December, 27 January, 10 February and 24 March.

A fifth round of games on Tuesday and/or Wednesday night will follow the SPL split which will take place as usual after Round 33.

SPL clubs will enter the Scottish Cup in the fourth round, which will be played on the weekend of 9 January. The fifth round is on 6 February, the quarter-finals on 13 March, and the semis on the weekend of 10 and 11 April.

Scheduling of the semis may change, however, if the teams involved get through to the latter stages of European competition. The final itself is on 15 May, two weeks earlier than this season.

SPL 2009/2010 KEY DATES

Saturday 15 August 2009

Aberdeen v Celtic

Dundee Utd v Hearts

Hibernian v St Mirren

Kilmarnock v Hamilton

Rangers v Falkirk

St Johnstone v Motherwell

Saturday, 2 January 2010

Celtic v Rangers

Dundee Utd v Aberdeen

Falkirk v St Johnstone

Hibernian v Hearts

Motherwell v Hamilton

St Mirren v Kilmarnock

Saturday 3 October 2009

Rangers v Celtic

Saturday 27 February 2010

Rangers v Celtic

Saturday 7 November 2009

Hearts v Hibernian

Saturday 20 March 2010

Hearts v Hibernian