Jim Goodwin anger at ‘ridiculous’ Celtic friendly

Celtic's plan for a friendly game with Liverpool has upset the St Mirren captain. Picture: Phil Wilkinson

The Scottish champions were due to host Danny Lennon’s Saints at Celtic Park on 10 August – a week after the new Scottish Professional Football League kicks off.

But the Glasgow giants have been given permission to cancel the fixture so they can instead face Liverpool in a money-spinning friendly in Dublin.

Goodwin rounded on the SPFL – formed last week by a merger of the Scottish Premier League and the Scottish Football League.

The Irish defender said: “I understand from a financial view what it does for Celtic. But for the game up here it is ridiculous.

“We have been unfortunate to be the club who drew this fixture. We are looking to get off to a good start and gain a bit of momentum. But we’ll come back from our holidays, play one game and then have another two-week break.

“I haven’t agreed with this from the start. It doesn’t happen anywhere else in the world. I can’t see why it happens here.

“It’s obviously worth a lot of money to Celtic. Going to play Liverpool in Dublin in the Aviva Stadium will no doubt draw a full house.

“There is massive revenue at stake for Celtic but I don’t see why it can’t be organised during pre-season. Why the SPL allow this to happen doesn’t make sense.

“We’ll just have to get on with it. Maybe the manager might decide to squeeze in a friendly himself. Or maybe we’ll be able to get in a wee round of golf.”

Goodwin’s team-mate Kenny McLean took the same viewpoint.

The Scotland under-21 midfielder said: “We all want to play these big games against the likes of Celtic but I don’t see why they should be allowed to organise a friendly during the season.

“It doesn’t seem fair. It’s one week into the season and we’ll be dying to get going.

“But a week after the first game we’ll back doing nothing. It’s very frustrating.”