Evening Telegraph (First Edition)
Dundee could be part of regional hub for lower league restart
A PLAN to restart Scottish football at a number of regional hubs around the country has been discussed by the game’s governing bodies – with Dundee and Fife mooted as potential locations.
Talks aimed at clearing a path for football’s return have been taking place for the last two weeks under the umbrella of the SFA and SPFL’s coronavirus joint response group (JRG).
The initial report from the six JRG sub groups tasked with laying out a roadmap has revealed a number of potential routes out of lockdown.
But chief amongst them is a proposal to begin next season’s lower league games at a selection of hub stadiums around Scotland, which would stage multiple games over a weekend.
Dundee and Fife have been touted as possible sites.
Discussions – which have involved the Scottish Government’s strategic football lead, David Hamilton – remain at an early stage.
However, with SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan this week urging football clubs and stakeholders to do “everything humanly possible” to help the game resume “by the end of July”, the pressure is on to find a solution for the Scottish game.
The hub plan was revealed in the f i r st fortnightly report from the JRG’s restart sub groups, and will be further honed over the next two weeks by the “club and stadium operations” group, of which Dundee United’s head of football admin and legal affairs Laura McCallum is a member.
Among other i ssues discussed during i nitial sub group talks were: social distancing in stadia; closed-door games potentially being streamed live online; virtual season tickets; and a change to the summer transfer window.