NO DADLINE FOR DE GEA RETURN

OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER does not know when David De Gea will be back after allowing him to return to Spain for the birth of his first child.

De Gea will miss tomorrow’s Manchester derby against league leaders City after his girlfriend, Edurne Garcia, gave birth on Thursday.

Dean Henderson will step in for De Gea, who will have to quarantine on his return to the UK and will not be available for United until April at the earliest.

Solskjaer said: “We allowed him to go back because he wanted to be with his girlfriend. We want our players back as soon as possible but there’s a human being in there that we had to look after.

“David was there for this fantastic day for him, his girlfriend and his family, so I don’t know when he’ll be back but it won’t be long.”

With De Gea, 30, to miss at least five games, it could prove the end of his decade as United’s No.1, if stand-in Henderson performs well.

Hendo, 23, has kept eight clean sheets in 13 games and De Gea may find it hard to reclaim his place when he returns.

THE charge of the common-sense brigade is usually conspicuous by its absence when it comes to Scottish football.

But a small battalion of lower-league bosses have saddled up this week to bring some sanity to proceedings as talks continue over the resumption of the Leagues One and Two seasons.

There’s a devil-maycare approach being taken by some club chairmen, a get back at all costs attitude that has some wanting the campaign to restart two weeks from today.

Keeping a rein on these cavalier administrators is paramount if the fences are to be jumped and seasons can be completed by May.

Jimmy McInally is always a voice of sound reason on these types of subjects and he wants medical assurances it’s going to be OK for his Peterhead team to be playing again with a maximum timescale of a fortnight when four weeks was the previous advice handed out by the SFA.

One month’s notice is what Gary Bollan would prefer for his Cowdenbeath side to get back properly tuned for action. And privately some managers believe the practicalities are too great to overcome.

There are some key issues to be addressed.

A host of clubs had their players back in this week for testing-only purposes and will need to await the results before getting their training gear back on.

The part-time clubs have the cash from philanthropist James Anderson, which can be used to finance a testing programme that will cost around £2000 per club, per week.

Some will be forced to return kicking and screaming out of furlough as they will need to start paying their players the minute their boots hit the ground.

This with zero income other than emergency funding from the Scottish Government, with League One outfits receiving £150,000 each and League Two sides banking £100,000 each.

Ironically, the thinking behind completing the Scottish Cup is all about the possibility of hitting a cash jackpot for any of the minnows who land a Premiership big boy and a live TV showing.

Three games a week, boys with day jobs having to juggle their careers with fulfilling a fixture card, involving lengthy midweek treks on their own in cars, could be just too much.

Clubs are voting on a best-case scenario, that

The fences that must be jumped for leagues to return to action are huge

testing works and that the games are played as planned.

It’s believed the plan doesn’t make provision for Covid-19 outbreaks cancelling games as there won’t be any free dates.

The danger of farce isn’t far from these proposals. The warning signs are clear.

Look no further than last night’s Fife derby fiasco, with Dunfermline now the subject of a standard SPFL probe after being unable to field a team due to an outbreak of the virus.

So fingers crossed for the bottom two divisions but the fences that need to be jumped for Leagues One and Two to return to action are huge.