Hibs manager Dean Gibson advocates for rethink towards fixture schedule

After the release of the post-split SWPL fixture list, Hibs manager Dean Gibson insists that the heavy schedule poses a difficult challenge.

There are nine games left to play in the SWPL this season as clubs look to finish the campaign as well as possible. With the final game scheduled for May 21st, the league is set for an action-packed last couple of months as fixtures due to be played pile up. This is most apparent in the final weeks of the season when each side is expected to play five games in two weeks.

Hibs alongside Hearts will compete against the top six for the rest of the season as they finished in the top half as the SWPL split. This means that the sides will need to face Rangers, Celtic and Glasgow City who are all full-time teams before the season is out. Hearts manager Eva Olid has already cited her concerns about the amounts of games her team will have to face in a short amount of time with Gibson now joining the Spaniard in questioning the schedule.

“I understand the congestion of them”, Gibson told the Edinburgh Evening News. “There are a lot of games that are close together and they are against full-time professional sides which is hard when you’ve got players coming from work and stuff. I understand that part. What I will say is what makes our league unique is the amount of games that we do play. We play more games than anyone else in the European leagues which is a good thing.

Dean Gibson's side host Hearts on April 16th. Credit: Malcolm Mackenzie

“What we need to look to do is that there is a spell between the end of April and the middle of May where there are five games in the space of two or three weeks. That is pretty heavy especially when you haven’t got a full-time squad and you are playing against full-time teams, that is difficult. I’m not going to go on more about the amount of games, maybe just the scheduling of them.”

Gibson’s side sit fifth in the SWPL as they prepare to travel to Rangers this Sunday. They wil be aiming to reduce the points gap between themselves and Hearts who sit fourth in the table, 11 points clear of their rivals.