The powers that be in Scottish football have sat down to discuss the unprecedented events of 2020 and come to a decision.
They’re going to ask the clubs to make a decision.
The Evening Times reports, so some of it is probably true…
SPFL clubs are to vote on a resolution recommending the termination of the 2019/20 season in the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League 1 and Ladbrokes League 2 – with final season placings determined by points per game in league matches played to date by each club.
But the resolution recommends that matches in the Ladbrokes Premiership remain postponed for the time being – to give the best possible opportunity for the remaining 2019/20 fixtures to be played.
However, if the SPFL board has determined that if the remaining Premiership matches cannot be played, the Ladbrokes Premiership would also be terminated, with final season placings determined on the same basis.
The Cabinet Secretary for Health announced on March 17 that NHS Scotland had been put on an emergency footing for at least 12 weeks until June 10.
In addition, the Scottish government also publicly advised that expectations are that restrictions could remain in place for at least 13 weeks.
That means the remaining fixtures in Ladbrokes League Season 2019/20 and the related play-off competitions cannot be scheduled without significantly damaging the SPFL’s ability to start and complete, on time, League Season 2020/21 and next Season’s Betfred Cup.
The SPFL has therefore today circulated a written resolution to its 42 Member Clubs recommending that SPFL clubs approve:
• The immediate termination of Season 2019/20 for the Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2, without the remaining fixtures in the League being played.
• All play-off competitions being cancelled.
• Final season placings to be determined by the number of points per game earned by each club in the matches they have played.
If approved, this would result in the promotion of Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers, and the relegation of Partick Thistle and Stranraer.
If the resolution is approved, the SPFL has also committed to consulting with clubs over the possibility of league restructuring ahead of Season 2020/21.
SPFL Chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: “These are extraordinarily difficult times for our entire country and, like every sports body worldwide, we have been wrestling with the enormous challenges caused by the outbreak.
“To their credit, every single club in the SPFL has been committed to completing the remaining fixtures for Season 2019/20, but they also all recognise we must prioritise the safety of players, officials and fans, and ensure our emergency services are given every possible assistance to focus on their vital work.
“Many football people have friends or family who are working with the emergency and health services or who have been affected by this awful virus and I have been struck by the strong sense of solidarity shown by everyone in our sport.
“The communication from the Scottish Government at least gives us a degree of clarity, meaning it will now be impossible to fulfil the remaining fixtures in the Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2 without causing huge financial damage and uncertainty for clubs in those divisions.
“We have recommended a way forward which we firmly believe enables the best possible outcome for Scottish football in these very demanding and unique circumstances.”
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster added: “As a board, we have consulted extensively with clubs in all four divisions since football was suspended on March 13 and have taken expert legal and commercial advice.
“Now is the right time to act. Very regrettably, we must face the reality that it’s simply not possible for the remaining Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2 fixtures to remain postponed without causing significant further financial harm to clubs in those divisions. Further, many of our clubs are experiencing very challenging organisational and financial circumstances.
“Everyone in our game, and in the country generally, is wrestling with the devastating impact of Covid- 19. We all know there are no easy answers or simple solutions, but the Board’s recommended proposal will give us a far greater degree of certainty, minimise the harm to the game overall, and enable us make end-of-season fee payments now to Ladbrokes Championship, League 1 and League 2 clubs.
“The position for the Ladbrokes Premiership remains particularly complicated. Everyone is aware of UEFA’s desire for the family of European football to work together to resolve the issues that confront us all. We are keen to work with UEFA and remain in discussion with them over the situation in Scotland.
“The quicker we reach a final position the better, but there is no doubt this is the most complicated and challenging situation our game has faced in living memory.”
Rangers rip up Ibrox pitch and end hope of quick fire restart to title finish
- 21:30, 7 APR 2020
- UPDATED22:18, 7 APR 2020
I’ve put the date and time in bold , by the way, to compliment Jackson on his twitter speed reading capability….you’ll see why shortly.
Rangers have given up any hope of a quick fire re-start to this season’s title fight – after tractors rolled into Ibrox to dig up the battered pitch.
Record Sport can exclusively reveal turf care specialists spent the day inside the club’s stadium to begin a major repair job on the playing surface, with two months of the scheduled season still to run.
The work started on the same day as the SPFL board reached a deadlock in crisis discussions over what contingency plans ought to be put in place for the current campaign should the Covid-19 pandemic continue to wreak havoc over the summer.
Those talks will resume again on Wednesday morning along with the repair work at Ibrox.
Normally, summer pitch renovation would include the laying of a brand new surface and could take up to ten weeks to complete.
That would mean the renovation could leave Steven Gerrard’s men unable to stage any home matches until the start of June at the earliest.
But club sources insisted that the job could be rushed through in half that time if the top flight is somehow ready for a resumption before then, in spite of the ongoing coronavirus lock-down..
An Ibrox spokesman confirmed to Record Sport: “Rangers are carrying out essential works which will be completed within four weeks.
“There is no reasonable expectation that we will be playing football at Ibrox in the next four weeks. Clubs in England have been carrying out similar work in recent weeks.”
Of course, they haven;t ripped it up, they’re just doing repair work, but that sort of thing never bothered the Record.
I’ve highlighted exclusively as well….
Ach, at least he got the story, if not quite exclusively.
Or accurately.
He must have forgotten that list of other clubs doing the same, but the point is that means behind closed doors, as we have already seen this season with the postponement of the game at Ibrox and the Euros, the decision has been made to end it.
They just have to find a way of breaking it gently.
In the meantime, they are raising money from private frms seeking somewhere to dump their rubbish as the council tips are all closed…new pitch my arse
Meanwhile, Coronavirus, the most effective opposition to a Conservative government in living memory continues to wreak havoc and heartbreak among the population.
I’m truly sorry to hear of losses already among regular readers, and I hope that you loved ones are at peace now.
One thing I’ve learned in the years of doing this diary is that we cannot rely on the media to tell the truth and that might be because they aren’t getting the truth either.
As we nervously glance at the daily death toll and wonder why current figures in Britain aren;t described as apocalyptic , as similar figures in Italy were recorded by our media, the Office of National Statistics has revealed that they are actually far, far worse than we thought…
Naturally these are out of date now, but at least more accurate – and more alarming
But ONS stats rely on deaths being registered (hard in a lockdown) so these comes with an bigger lag
In the end the numbers must match, so the daily counts we get at 14:00 will miss the peak, which will come earlier than it appears because we will go on recording many deaths in hospitals even when the rates are declining fast
On a brighter note, the Star says we should enjoy the weather….
It’s important to try to find something to take our mind off things, something to give us a wee smile, and we’d like to invite you for a stroll down memory lane with us, as we remember a few ditties that DSK found in an old songbook, and I’d like to hear any wee stories about any of the songs in the replies….
Here we go…anyone who remembers the tunes please let us know what they were…I know some of these, but not all..
All from what may be the original fanzine/fans forum…
The comments today should be a shameless wallow in nostalgia…. away from the troubles of today.
apart from the caption competition, of course.
Yesterday….
Oh, and then there’s
Knob of the Day
caller, Keith from Norfolk, wants anyone flouting the lockdown to be shot by the Army. The offenders on Keith’s hit list were people ‘running around sunbathing’, ‘spitting in streets’, ‘disrespecting the Queen’, or generally ‘being outrageous’.
I think it’s a different Keith….
Green brigade fc warm up routine
Is that Marian Shved working hard on his English during the lockdown.
Caption : halftime tab
Caption………
Here mate, haud ma can, I’m just going to do that enormous line of charlie.
Caption.
NHS ANTI SMOKING WARNING.
a fag a day keeps the ladies away!
Cant see much of your song lists as its only a wee box I’m looking at with image next to it?
Can’t see the images either (on mobile). Ralph’s legendary IT skills again (©HectorBandido)
Ditto
Same here…
caption – got anymore chief, the boss asked to see my six pack
Caption
I’m celebrating that’s the league finished
Moussa has just skelped the huns again just tweeted kech Jackson on the pitch being lifted
it’s the only thing they will be lifting this season
Just love Moussa
RT @MDembele_10 @Record_Sport @tedermeatballs The only thing they will lift this season is their own pitch… @CelticFC @dembelition #TheirOnlyWayToKnowHowItFeelsToBeCeltic #DoubleTrebleWinner #CelticInvincible
Once a Tim always a Tim, with the exception of that horrible little sleekit scumbag Johnston.
Caption: Asterisk? The Gall! Cracking headline Phil, here have a beer and a smoke.
Wee typo at the end #bedwetterproductions.
Caption …
Here mate you can push in this can ,can ye no ?
So the way I see this is Sevco want the season null and voided, meaning it never happened, yet want prize money paid out for something that didn’t happen.
You couldn’t mark their necks with a blowtorch!!
All 34 of Naka’s goals for Celtic
https://www.facebook.com/WeShallNotBeMovedPodcast/videos/174355556534234/?app=fbl
I assume you and your fellow conspiracy theory nutters have been donning tinfoil hats and heading out on night patrol to burn down 5G masts to keep us all safe.
Heroes, one and all, we salute you and thank for your service to the nation.
Wouldn’t normally repost my caption entry for yesterday but in the spirit of banging on endlessly about the same thing…
Caption: Until Holland & Barrett live up to the principles of Alfred Slapps Barrett and Major William Holland, I’ll not be back.
More right wing propaganda.
I don’t believe it is in the government’s interest to underreport the covid-19 fatality numbers as more deaths mean more legitimacy for their actions.
Every death, regardless of cause, where the victim tests positive for covid-19 is counted in the figures.
This means the numbers of infected are orders of magnitude higher than the official figures, because we’re asked to stay home if we have symptoms rather than get tested, the death rate appears orders of magnitude higher than it actually is.
NB. This doesn’t mean you should go out and ignore the disease, it’s an infectious little bugger and will kill at least one in a hundred who get it, so don’t risk yourself or your family. But do be skeptical of the figures and the closed source models being used. And let’s see if these new “emergency” powers are removed after the crisis goes away. Hint: they won’t, they’ll be quietly shelved and not used for a few years then trotted out when there is the overdue political uprising this country needs.
Caption: Ach might as well as we wont be playing again this season.
Sevco really are in the shit.
Wage deferral for 3 months and again I repeat nowhere in their statement did it say by the way of 50%. This is an imaginary figure coukd be more?
Then league has to be finished but give us our cut just now.
Oh and by the way we will rip up the park just now also but we definitely want to play the season out.
Wonder where that great socialist journalist and Celtic fan Kevin McKenna is on this story? Was quick to condemn Celtic the other day.
Not arguing the point Charlie but another who hadsn’t got the baws where it matters.
Socialist my tits.
Naw av no goat corona mate, jist take a drink ffs!
Caption: Tony Watt’s Training To Become A No.10
I cant see points being deducted Charlie they will call it unprecedented times and any club will not be deducted if they go into administration covering their bigoted arses.
Caption: Here Kilmarnock, it’s Red Bull, gees ye wings.
‘Turf care specialists’ at owebrox? Must have missed that particular vocation on the list of key workers. Or is this another exception solely for the huns, like going ahead with the Leverkusen game?
According to King some shareholders are specialists in grass, rocks etc.
Caption : ‘Scotland’s new Chief Medical Officer offers advice during the current health crisis’.
Can someone confirm ??Administration post 31 March incurs points deduction the following season.
One of my all time Celtic favourites was Balde. Dianbobo Balde. 6ft.5″ and built like a Tiger Tank, the pigs in Govan squealed their displeasure when MON. brought him to Celtic. One of Celtic’s longest serving players (8 years) most spent from the side-lines. A tough tackler and good in the air, the highlight of his career was reaching the Europa Cup final where he was sent off in extra time. It was his sheer menacing presence that intimidated opposing players, he was a typical MON signing. MON present to him on his departure was a new 4 year contract, when he left Peter tried everything to get his high (28k) p.w. wages off the payroll. It was rumoured that he had a secret file with all the details of his time at Celtic written into it, clever.
When the blessed Martin left and WGS came in, under Peters instructions he sent him into the reserves, hoping that he would request a transfer, WGS. brought in sh!tey Garry Caldwell. Bobo wouldn’t succumb to Peters party tricks and played with the weans, stalemate. White men couldn’t jump higher or faster to get away from Bobo. Many clubs would come in for him including Roy Keanes Sunderland, Birmingham city offered him the same wages, but Bobo refused to go.
He liked Glasgow and the East Enders liked Bobo. Peter summoned him to his office and asked him to accept the Birmingham offer but he still refused saying “you are the C.E.O. off Celtic and I am the C.E. off Bobo. He was also a target for Fulham and other French clubs but still NO. He took his largess wages but Bobo loved his Country and gave it a large part of his savings, Overseas (Guinea) Aid Bobo style. I loved watching this Hunskelper brave as a lion, watching the Huns bricking it always made me smile and that is why he is always one of my all time Celtic favourit’s. Today he is an under 20s Guinea coach and I wish him all the best and thank him for the memories. # Love the Tic.
Watching the re-runs of the old games on TV, helps you remember how many awful mistakes he made.