THE footballing world must be looking in at the SPL in utter disbelief at what has happened - or what has not happened - in the lead-up to Rangers' participation in the Uefa Cup Final.

I heard a discussion on an English radio station about the schedule Walter Smith's side have before Manchester, and the pundits said that the governing body should hang their heads in shame - and that is absolutely correct.

Zenit St Petersburg have had three games wiped out by the Russian FA in a bid to help their cause in Manchester next week.

Cuellar would be hard sell CARLOS CUELLAR is the worthy recipient of the Football Writers' Player of the Year, but I know many people thought he should also have won the Players' Player of the Year award, which went to Celtic's Aiden McGeady. I just feel the SPFA vote far too early and I wonder if Aiden would have won the Players' gong had the voting deadline been last Friday, like the writers. I am not too sure he would have as, with all due respect, the little winger hasn't done much recently. Likewise, Billy Reid was named Manager of the Year. Again, no disrespect to the Hamilton boss, but would he have won that award if the voting had been later and after Walter Smith took Rangers to a Uefa Cup Final? By definition, Player of the Year is about the entire campaign, and Cuellar has been a rock in the heart of Gers' defence. There is no doubt that English teams are going to have a real look at signing him. What will Rangers do if similar money comes in like the £9m they banked for Alan Hutton? Could they turn that down when it could allow Walter Smith to bring in two or three top-drawer signings? It would be very hard not to sell.

Even looking at the Champions League Final, both Manchester United and Chelsea have 10 days free before they face-off in Moscow.

Rangers? They have to play Motherwell tomorrow night then take on Dundee United at Ibrox on Saturday before travelling down for the final - so they have four days to prepare. Nice one, SPL!

And let's not forget the three SPL games in six days they have to play AFTER the Uefa Cup Final because the league season will finish on Thursday, May 22.

And then there is the showcase of the season - the Scottish Cup Final - going ahead the following day after getting home from Aberdeen at 2am.

It's no wonder Walter Smith has had another pop at officialdom and you have to say the SPL have been spineless - they didn't really make a decision, did they?

This one, though, is not a local issue. And there won't be a nation in Europe not wondering why they haven't helped Rangers out.

As Smith has pointed out, bar giving Rangers a match on the Monday night before the Uefa Cup Final, there was no way they physically could have squeezed in all the games to finish on May 18 as scheduled.

They HAD to extend it by four days - but it was not done as any favour to Rangers. The only way it would have been a favour would have been extending the league AFTER the Scottish Cup Final on Saturday, May 24.

Rangers won't expect one bit of sympathy from any club. The bottom line is that teams in the SPL all look out for themselves, and I have no problem with that.

Gers were trying to do the best for their interests, Celtic were doing the same. The more games in a short space of time for Rangers the better for the Parkhead side in terms of the title.

When clubs in this league are free of relegation fears, and out of the race for European spots, they just want to get the season over as quickly as possible and head away on holiday.

I understand all the logistical problems, and the fact that most players book holidays as soon as they know they are not in the cup final and their clubs give them a definite winding-up date.

I also concede Rangers had a game wiped out against Gretna before they played Lyon, but they have played that re-arranged match. The St Mirren game is outstanding because it was cancelled origin-ally because of the Scotland v Italy World Cup qualifier, with the rescheduled match postponed because of the weather, while the Motherwell game is backlogged because of the Phil O'Donnell tragedy.

Are people saying those games going off were actually Rangers' fault?

But surely the SPL could have had some kind of contingency plan in place? They have known for the past two months that Rangers have had the chance of going all the way to the Uefa Cup Final.

What chance have you got, however, with a discredited league that will see Aberdeen play 20 home games and 18 away this season, in contrast to the rest of the other teams chasing a Uefa Cup spot?

Or a league that threatens to expel teams that don't have undersoil heating, yet lets in a team that doesn't have a stadium deemed fit for top-flight games?

They are a joke from top to bottom, yet the SPL brass will no doubt preen themselves at the City of Manchester Stadium next week even in the knowledge they've done nothing but hamper one of their own clubs which is trying to put Scotland on the map.

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Ref gaffes must nail talk of a pro-Gers conspiracy

ANOTHER weekend, another refereeing controversy involving Celtic, this time at Motherwell. For the third week in a row Gordon Strachan's side have benefited from mistakes made by officials, no question.

I apply the same logic to all of this as I did when Celtic fans came on to Radio Clyde with accusations that refs were in favour of Rangers and that there was a conspiracy. There is nothing sinister here - it's just refs and assistants making honest mistakes. I feel we have the worst crop of officials for some time, and that is being reflected in these blunders.

Steve Conroy should never have awarded Celtic a corner from which they scored.

As for the argument that it was only a corner and that Motherwell should have defended it better, yes they should have. But everyone knows that has been Well's Achilles heel. Had Conroy made the right call, the ball would have been up the other end of the pitch and Celtic wouldn't have had the opportunity.

Celtic are getting breaks, and Rangers got some earlier in the season. I just hope that, once and for all, it ends the talk of conspiracy theories in favour of Ibrox.

No-one in their right mind can suggest that after what has happened in the last three Celtic games.