If it’s good enough for English fans .. it must be good enough for Scots fans
Scottish football chief pleads with First Minister to allow the supporters back into our stadiums
AT 12.13pm yesterday, Scottish football kicked off a strategic cry for help, pleading with Nicola Sturgeon to save the game from a catastrophic coronavirus collapse.
By 12.15pm, the First Minister had stepped up to her daily brief ing podium inside Edinburgh’s St Andrew’s House and booted it straight back into the long grass.
For the two minutes in between, all 42 clubs around the country held their collective breath in the desperate hope they might soon be allowed to open their turnstiles again and, at the eleventh hour, save themselves from the financial tsunami which has been heading their way since the padlocks were slapped on in March.
It has been gathering momentum for a while. And the fact that SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster chose yesterday to make his big move – by going public with his request for an emergency meeting with the FM – suggests the full impact of football’s cash crisis is about to start hitting home.
At various stages over these last nine months the relationship between Scottish football’s leaders on Hampden’s sixth floor and Holyrood has been strained to breaking-point.
But a truce appeared to have been struck on October 5 when, following crisis talks with Sports Minister Joe FitzPatrick, it was announced a multi-million pound bailout for the professional game in this country had been secured as a consequence of the Barnett formula.
With the UK Government agreeing a £300million funding package for sport across England, it was hoped as much as £30million might soon be shared out around Scotland’s cash-strapped clubs.
Nearly two months on, the money has not arrived. And, more importantly, neither have the paying punters.
Ross County and Inverness Caley Thistle aside – who have been g iven permission for crowds of up to 300 due to either side of the Kessock Bridge being at Level 1 status – Scottish football remains in a state of lockdown. With Prime Minister Boris Johnson greenlighting theth safe return of crowds of up to 4000 south of the Border from next week, Doncaster has made a late, blatant attempt to force the First Minister’s arm by bypassing the “monkeys” and reaching out to the “organ-grinder-in-chief ”.
So the SPFL’s statement was fired out – just as Sturgeon was walking in to face the cameras flanked by national clinical director Professor Jason Leitch – warning that some of Scotland’s most-loved football clubs are on the brink of going out of business.
It read: “The SPFL has today written to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon asking for an emergency meeting to end the lock-out of fans across the country. Fol lowing the announcement that clubs in England have been given the green light to welcome fans back, the SPFL’s chief executive Neil Doncaster has issued a direct appeal to the First Minister on behalf of the country’s 42 professional clubs to very quickly let Scottish fans back into stadia in carefully managed, meaningful numbers.
“Mr Doncaster said, ‘Scottish football fans are the most passionate in Europe, with more league attendances per capita than any other country, so our clubs have been hit far harder by the lock-out than those in England because we depend much more heavily on gate receipts.
‘Every major club in Scotland has very detailed, well-founded plans in place for safely returning fans back to stadiums, and thousands upon thousands of Scottish fans are simply desperate to get back quickly to watching their teams in the safety of a carefully managed, open-air environment.
‘ We are now calling on the First Minister to do the right thing by Scotland’s hard-pressed football supporters. If it’s good enough for English fans, it must be good enough for Scottish fans.
‘If the First Minister refuses to allow football fans all over Scotland to watch their beloved
It’s ddifficult for football. But it’s ddifficult for lots of people, businesses busi and lots of sectors NICOLA SSTURGEON ON FOLLOWING ENGLAND’S LEAD ON FOOTBALL
teams in carefully regulated, ed, limited numbers, complete with th track and trace, she will have to explain to them the clinical cal difference between Scottish fans ns and English fans.
‘Make no mistake, failure to get fans back in the very near future re will sound the death knell for or some of our best-loved clubs and nd no-one wants that.
‘The First Minister has the e opportunity to put a smile on n the faces of Scottish football all fans and give them a much-needed early Christmas as present and we are calling for or meaningful, urgent engagement.
‘ Despite the enormous financial consequences, our clubs have followed every directive and every instruction from the Scottish Government. Clubs, supporters and players have been hugely patient. It’s now time to get the fansbackfansback. WehaveWehave written to the First Minister seeking an emergency meeting, because time is really against us. We will meet with her at any time, day or night, and we await her response.
‘The clubs have done the hard work of putting their plans in place for the safe returnreturnofof fans in limited numbers. All we need now is for the First Minister to say ‘ Yes’.”
Celtic last night supported the SPFL’s request. In a statement, they said: “We are committed to working with football authorities and the Scottish Government to welcome supporters back to football as quickly and as safely as possible. From the work we’ve carried out with our supporters, we know how important that is to them, too.”