Stuart Kettlewell staggered by Rangers post split Dens offer as similar Motherwell suggestion 'blown out the water'

Stuart Kettlewell admits he was staggered to see Dundee’s cursed clash with Rangers rearranged for post-split – after league bosses sunk Motherwell’s proposal to do exactly that last week.

The Ibrox side’s twice-postponed showdown at dodgy Dens has been rescheduled for Wednesday, three days after the league halves with all 33 matchdays due to be completed before then. But when Well chiefs put that suggestion to the SPFL with their own trip to Tayside in serious doubt last weekend, Kettlewell says they were “blown out the water” and told fixtures had to finish pre-split.

It means what Well hoped would be a three-way shootout for a top six spot tomorrow could now drag on until Wednesday night’s clash between the Dark Blues and Rangers. Kettlewell reckons the whole situation is “really bizarre” and admits he expected a contingency to avoid disruption.

He said: “I’m a little bit surprised this has been the chain of events. Last week when we were in a position where we didn’t know what was going to happen there were all kinds of things being thrown out there. Some of it was speculation, some of it truth. If it wasn’t on Saturday then it was give it another go on Sunday. Preparation we know that’s miles off what it needs to be.

“Rangers have said that too, they need to know so they can get another training session in. It’s not just a day of travelling to then come home to then travel back up again.

“If that wasn’t a possibility the aspect of going to play closed doors potentially on astroturf on a Monday afternoon was something teased out there and mentioned. Again, how do you prepare for that?

“If it had been off and with Dundee playing Rangers one thing we’d spoken about – was there a chance to play it after the split? That