The SPL wants to stage a number of Friday night games for live broadcast by Setanta over the course of the season, a plan which could involve Dundee United.

The Association of Chief Police Officers (Scotland) has described the Friday night proposal as “unacceptable”, a view shared by the local force.

The main concern is the amount of manpower required to cover a big game when resources are already stretched dealing with alcohol-related disorder.

“Tayside Police does not support scheduling football matches on a Friday night,” said a spokesperson.

“Such events place too great a demand on police resources at a time when the demand from communities is at its highest.

“That has long been recognised by police and football authorities.

“Following the SPL/Setanta contract, and an approach from the SPL to reconsider Friday night matches, the ACPO(S) position remains the same, that Friday night matches should be avoided.”

The SPL has agreed a £54.5 million deal with satellite broadcaster Setanta, which allows them to screen 60 live games from the Scottish top flight.

It has been reported that they wanted to show games on both Sunday afternoons and Friday nights, with a 7.45 pm kick-off, and a spokesman for the SPL told the Tele they were still hopeful of being granted permission for some Friday evening fixtures.

“There are no set deadlines,” he said. “The season starts this weekend and we don’t have any Friday night games scheduled.

“The police have made some of their opinions clear. We need the co-operation of the police for any of our matches to go ahead.

“There’s still a bit of discussion to be had. We are going to be speaking to the police over the next couple of weeks and take things from there.”

Setanta bosses had hoped games would be considered on a case-by-case basis, but a spokesman said there had been “no developments.”

“Most of the games were earmarked for Monday nights, although Friday was always a possibility,” he confirmed.

“I don’t think you could say that Setanta are disappointed (by the police position), because there were no games scheduled for Friday nights anyway. It was always going to be done with the full co-operation of local police forces.”

“You never want to lose a derby and, if you do, you feel like it’s a disaster,” said Robson. “We were sick and I know the fans were, but maybe what a lot of people didn’t realise is that, because it was a friendly, we had not been easing up in training and had been through a week of mainly double sessions. Maybe that showed in the legs in the second half, but that’s not an excuse.

“This week, the workload has been lighter because we are preparing for a league game, and I know that, from the start of the pre-season, we have been working in the right way. We will be ready for this, because that is what it is all about.”

Having spent most of his three seasons at Tannadice struggling at the wrong end of the table, Robson realises the importance of getting the campaign off to a good start.

Although a home game against the Bairns appears the perfect opportunity for that, he dismisses talk of an easy first game.

“Everyone is desperate to get off to a good start. That means whether it’s Falkirk or the Old Firm it’ll be tough.”

Impressed as he’s been by new signings like Noel Hunt, Craig Conway and Steven Robb, Barry knows there’s a need for more depth to United’s squad.

“We need more players and that’s something the manager is working on.”

United’s efforts to strengthen have hit another hitch with the news Christian Kalvenes’ club Brann Bergen want a sizeable fee for his services. He won’t be fixed up in time for tomorrow, and, if anything happens, it will be next week, while ICT remain determined to hang on to Darren Dods, Ian Black and David Proctor.

The Scotland-Spain European U/19 final, with Scotland featuring United’s Greg Cameron and Garry Kenneth, is live on BBC2 tomorrow (6.50).

Predictions — Celtic v. Killie — HOME, United v. Falkirk — HOME, Dunfermline v. Hearts — AWAY, Hibs v. Aberdeen — HOME, ICT v. St Mirren — HOME, Motherwell v. Rangers — AWAY.

Perth schoolboy Jordan Clark (10) has been saving some of his pocket money every week, and any odd change was put in a jar.

When the Tulloch PS pupil counted the content, he was astonished to find it was over £100 — and immediately contacted Dee 4 Life to arrange for the donation to be passed over.

Trust official Scott Glenday said, “We were gobsmacked by young Jordan’s donation, but even more so when we were told his £100 had, in fact, taken us through the £100,000 barrier.

“This proves what we’ve known all along — every penny counts, and fans can donate anything, however small, to the fund. We would urge fans to continue with their efforts.”

And the manager will use the two games to give as many of his players as possible some game time in the run up to the first competitive action of the new campaign.

“Tomorrow, I’ll use a few of the boys who need games, and there will be room for them because it’s highly unlikely we’ll use Danny Griffin against Arbroath or Rangers and I might leave out big Gary McKenzie because he missed a couple of days training with a knock,” said Alex.

“I might sit this one out myself and have a look at this one from the bench. As well as giving everyone games, I want to have as strong a team as possible for Tuesday, because the last thing you want is to be turned over in your last game before the season starts.”

Broken wrist victim Griffin is still not being ruled out of the Partick game and Alex remains hopeful he will get the green light to play.

“We’re covering all the bases before we make a decision, and that includes not using him tomorrow to give him as long as possible to let it start healing. It’s not a concern because knowing Danny, if there’s any chance of him playing, he’ll be there for the first league game.”

Not available tomorrow is trialist Kevin Smith from Sunderland and a decision on him will be made based on his showing in training and bounce games.