Neil Doncaster appears to have exploded the notion that Rangers could apply for the Old Firm game to be cancelled due to international call ups. 

The game was scheduled for January 2nd when Joe Aribo, Calvin Bassey and Leon Balogun would have been eligible before flying off to the African Cup of Nations. 

However the SPFL have moved the game to Febuary 2nd. If Nigeria reach the semi-finals of AFCON it would mean the important trio would miss the crucial fixture at Parkhead. 

Hope was raised last night that Rangers could use SPFL rule G7 in this circumstance which allows for clubs to request postponement of fixtures should three or more players be away on international duty. 

It states: "A Club shall be entitled to apply to the Board for the postponement of any Official Match where three or more of its Players who would otherwise have participated in such match are unavailable through international selection and, following receipt of such an application, the Board may postpone and rearrange the relevant Official Match in accordance with Rule G3." 

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The likelihood of this rule being used seemed to increase when it emerged last night that the game will fall while international games take place, including crucial qualifiers that will mean Tom Rogic and Kyogo Furuhashi would miss out.

However, SPFL chief executive Doncaster told Sky Sports today there is simply no more room in the calendar for additional fixtures and by implication, further changes. 

While he didn’t address the point of G7 directly, Doncaster made it clear there is no more room for flexibility in the schedule. 

Doncaster told Sky Sports: "There is no further room. 

"We've used the two available slots that exist. Although so many clubs wanted to postpone all three festive games, there simply isn't the space on the calendar to do that. 

"We had two slots in January and the beginning of February, which we've used to put the 29 December and New Year games into, but there really isn't any further room. 

"So 10 of the 12 cinch Premiership clubs wanted to postpone fixtures. 

"I think that the two who didn't clearly expressed views that we already have a great deal of fixture congestion in the schedule, and by postponing the fixtures voluntarily, all we're doing is making that worse.

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"From the league's point of view, all we want to do is to have as many games played as early as possible. So we understood that view. 

"But ultimately, the clear majority of the cinch Premiership clubs wanted to postpone fixtures and that's where we got to."

Given the comments, it's hard to imagine a scenario where the League body would allow the fixture to be moved, especially given the logistical nightmare presented by the derby for policing and fitting into TV company Sky's busy schedule.