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Scottish Professional Football League chief executive Neil Doncaster claims his recent appointment to the Scottish Football Association board can help the two organisations align interests.

Doncaster replaced Ian Maxwell last month after the Partick Thistle managing director stepped down ahead of a potential appointment as SFA chief executive.

The move was criticised in some quarters with former St Mirren chairman Stewart Gilmour describing it as a lack of leadership and vision. But Doncaster believes it can be a step forward.

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"Ultimately when you sit on a board you are there to represent the best interests of that organisation," he said.

"My appointment has been part of an ongoing desire to align the interests of the SPFL and the Scottish FA. I think the two organisations - the governing body and the senior league - should be working more closely together, and I see my appointment as part of that process.

"I will certainly do what I can to achieve a better, stronger working relationship for the benefit of the entire game in Scotland."

Doncaster was speaking in Edinburgh as the SPFL hosted a general assembly for the European Leagues - a body representing organisations across the continent.

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The meeting came at a busy time for the league, and secretary Iain Blair in particular, as the SPFL prepares its post-split fixtures.

Celtic are expected to host Rangers on April 21-22 if they cannot win the league that weekend, a fact which will be determined by this weekend's results - but Doncaster was giving little away.

"What's important is that we go through the process of liaising with broadcasters and the police, as you'd expect," he said.

"That is something that Iain Blair is well used to doing over the last 18 years and he will do that over the coming days to ensure the best possible set of post-split fixtures, but also the appropriate scheduling."

There could be some controversy, as is usually the case, with Rangers already having hosted all five of their top-six rivals twice.

"It's a work in progress," Doncaster said. "We will be in a position to announce the post-split fixtures early next week.

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"This is not a new process, this is the 18th season that we have had a split league, and with the split comes, just a matter of logic, imbalances that may mean a club or clubs loses or gains a home fixture. And it will mean distortions in terms of the amount of times clubs play each other home or away.

"So there will be clubs that end up playing others three times away or three times at home."