DAILY RECORD 🔵 Aberdeen’s game against Rangers should be off and the SPFL are a disgrace for not putting fans first

League chiefs don’t care about supporters’ safety – just puff pieces bigging up the attendances, writes Scott Burns

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Scottish Professional Football League chiefs need to take a good look at themselves – and start putting fans first.

That’s if they really care.

A storm is hitting Scotland but they are the ones due an icy blast.

We keep getting the regular puff emails about how well-supported Scottish football is and how great our fans are.

Yes, that is all well and good but when it comes to the crunch do they ever put supporters first?

I write this as I sit in the comfort of my living room with a storm outside hitting the house, ahead of the Aberdeen v Rangers game.

That is on top of the 10 days of snow that had hit the Granite City since New Year’s Day.

It’s not as if the storm has come as a surprise.

Amber weather warnings have been issued by the Met Office and there are alarming signs up and down the motorways.

Yet, fans of Aberdeen and Rangers are being asked to travel in treacherous conditions for a game at Pittodrie.

If people are being advised not to travel then surely league chiefs should be calling games off in the affected areas.

Fans, players and staff could be taking unnecessary journeys in treacherous conditions.

The Aberdeen game should be off and that is the end of it.

Yes, they will want it on because it is on Sky Sports.

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The television company has a huge hole in their schedule because it is FA Cup weekend and will give Scottish football more prominence.

But, in these conditions, the football isn’t going to be great.

Let’s be honest, it won’t exactly be a spectacle and is hardly going to portray Scottish football in its best light.

Surely common sense should be used by SPFL chiefs rather than worrying about pressure from television companies or fixture pile ups.

We aren’t even a fortnight into 2026 and the SPFL have already sold fans short.

Last weekend they left Aberdeen’s games at Falkirk and Rangers on.

So Aberdeen and their supporters, based in Aberdeen and the Shire, had to travel even though there had been eight or nine inches of snow.

It is also the case for fans of other clubs based in the affected areas.

God forbid what would happen if a fan was to lose their life in these conditions.

There will be people from Dundee and south of that city asking what am I talking about.

Try living up in Aberdeen. I couldn’t even get my car out of its parking space in my street last Saturday.

I was covering the Dundee United v Dundee game and was lucky enough that a train station was within walking distance.

I was amazed that after I got past Angus that there wasn’t even a drop of snow. It was like another world.

Yet, when I got to Tannadice I was informed that there would be no return trains to Aberdeen because of the weather.

The majority of the buses had also been cancelled.

There would have been Dons fans and supporters of other clubs left without a return journey to the north-east.

I was lucky enough that I managed to get an Ember bus up the road.

The driver of that bus deserves a medal for the journey he had, between the snow and ice and roadside fires!

It took several hours but he managed to get people back safely.

Even Torvill and Dean would have struggled under-foot.

It would have been even worse for others and some might not even have been able to get home.

I can also vouch how bad it was in Aberdeen.

I went to Aberdeen the press conference on Monday and got stuck in the snow four times making the short journey.

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You can imagine the challenge for the Aberdeen fans and players trying to get out of the city and on the road to Ibrox and Falkirk.

Aberdeen supporters’ buses were cancelled from coach suppliers for the Rangers game because they didn’t want their drivers on the roads. Who could blame them?

Yet, Scottish football is still ordering that games go on.

It is about time Scottish football chiefs started to put our main commodity – our fans – first.

If there are travel warnings and teams and fans need to travel through these areas then the games should be off.

It should be a given.

I know it is a contested enough calendar and there should be no room for asking fans and players to travel in those conditions.

It is a liberty and it shouldn’t be happening.

If Scottish football really cares about its fans then it needs to do more and make them a priority – all the time.

Not just when it comes to simple pats on the back or self-promotion pieces over increased attendances.