Livingston’s Martindale sides with SPFL over postponement rule row

LIVINGSTON manager David Martindale has backed the SPFL’s stance on postponements following criticism from top-flight rivals.

Dundee and St Mirren have both hit out at SPFL decision-makers over the past week after failing with requests to call off games amid Covid19 outbreaks.

The league’s director of operations Calum Beattie responded on Monday to say the board had to stick with the policy agreed by clubs before the start of the season.

Martindale said: “I agree with the SPFL 100%.

“Every club was involved in these talks at the start of the season and every club got to put their own criteria forward.

“We had a vote and everyone agreed that if they had 13 players, and one was a goalkeeper and 10 of them were over 18, then we were going to fulfil that fixture.”

St Mirren fielded 16-year-old Dylan Reid against Celtic last week and their bench had zero first-team experience, although they held their visitors to a goalless draw.

Dundee could only name four substitutes against Aberdeen on Saturday with their bench made up of two goalkeepers, a 17-year-old and 40-yearold assistant manager Dave Mackay.

The Premiership is scheduled to resume on January 18 and Martindale is hopeful that data on the severity of the Omicron variant will lead to the Scottish Government relaxing self-isolation rules after periods were shortened in the likes of the United States and England.

“That would really help football in general because you are not going to lose players for 10 days if their partner is ill or they have picked up Covid themselves,” he said.

Livingston manager David Martindale.