St Mirren scare a troubling symptom for SPFL season
FOR those sick of the sound of a “new normal”, there was a jolt with the news on Thursday night that seven of St Mirren’s backroom staff returned positive Covid-19 tests.
It has since emerged that apparently six of the seven were false positive. If this seems a little iffy then the fact remains that as we tiptoe out of hard lockdown, the Paisley side offered a fairly swift reminder that there will be no rush back to life as it used to be any time soon.
For obvious reasons there has been a push towards getting fans back into stadia. There have been calls to get social-distanced crowds back in and test out games where supporters can be monitored coming into grounds but right now it seems as far off as it did a few months back.
The canned crowd noise has been a weird backdrop to the televised games that we have seen over the last month or so and for those playing in games without the energy and atmosphere created by heaving terraces, it must seem like an odd experience too.
But while there is a pressing need – for economic reasons above all else – to figure out a way to allow supporters back into grounds without compromising on safety concerns, the news that came out of St Mirren was fairly sobering.
If the first hurdle of staging closed-doors games and bounce games is still proving to be challenging in terms of containing the virus then it becomes very difficult to argue the case for increasing numbers in and around games.
It is, of course, the last thing that anyone needs to hear.
Aside from anything else, the financial cost of returning to twice-weekly testing will be crippling to some Scottish clubs. And these are clubs who are already struggling to deal with the economic impact that the virus has had on their accounts given the fall in season-ticket numbers, the lack of bums on seats, the loss of hospitality sales and the impact of no money at all generated on a match day.
Ultimately, though, those costs will be nothing compared to what could happen if this season is halted at some stage again if there is another serious wave of the virus down the line.
Saints played Hamilton Accies last weekend in a bounce game. Accies’ tests have been negative so far but there is no guarantee that this will remain so in the week to come. The track and trace system will now come into play, but seven cases would suggest that the tracing could be fairly extensive.
And with the league set to kick off next weekend – and a Sky television contract in place that was the driving force for a decision being made in April on the premature conclusion of the previous campaign – there is a serious headache for the governing body as they seek to avoid a major setback.
That nine Rangers players could also have played in a friendly game against Dundee United earlier this week without having received their Covid test results is alarming. The fact remains that the emergence from lockdown is a fragile process and anything that is seen to jeopardise the current trajectory will be viewed with considerable suspicion.
A second wave and a second lockdown would be catastrophic for Scottish football. But when you look south of the border and see Leeds United parade the Championship trophy on an open-top bus which was always going to encourage a rush of support onto the streets, then there are fears that once an inch is given with regard to crowds then a mile will be taken.
It is imperative that clubs adhere to the testing measures and stick to the necessary time frames, regardless of how inconvenient that may seem at times.
The outbreak last week in a South Lanarkshire call centre points to just how quickly a cluster of the virus can spread. As there has been a move out of lockdown and a build-up to the return of schools, football and most of the things that make up our daily lives, it is easy to forget that there is no vaccine yet.
The only way to manage a global pandemic is to listen to the science and remain as sensible as possible.
AND ANOTHER THING
STEWART ROBERTSON, the Rangers managing director, deserves a round of applause this week for his bold statement as he took a pop at a nefarious element within the Ibrox support.
While it might seem like a fairly obvious stance to take, it is never an easy call to publicly criticise and condemn the behaviour of those who support the club. What was particularly notable about the tone of Robertson’s statement was that he was not so much concerned about the reaction of those who opposed the BLM movement but rather that he was fairly blunt at telling them their so-called support is not welcome at the club.
Robertson put his name to the strong words rather than taking what would have been an easier option of putting it out as a simple club statement.
That it had to be said at all is another matter. The fact that he was so willing to unequivocally condemn the social media nonsense of an element of the Rangers fanbase who had responded in anger to the images of their players taking a knee is a massive step in the right direction as the Ibrox seek look to shed an image of remaining stuck in a bitter past.
It is easy to forget that there is no vaccine yet