12-CITY EUROS WAS A ROTTEN IDEA EVEN BEFORE THIS CHAOS... NOW IT’S LUNACY
Guidance of UEFA no use to game in Scotland
FOR Scottish clubs, UEFA’s plan to save domestic football from the effects of coronavirus offers the worst of all worlds. When Europe’s governing body acts, it’s usually with the big five leagues in mind.
Despite a video conference call offering all 55 member associations the chance to shape the response to the biggest crisis to hit football since the outbreak of World War Two, yesterday proved no exception.
A decision to postpone the Euro 2020 finals until July 2021 was expected and necessary. The delay offers time for domestic leagues suspended until further notice to bring the season to a climax by the end of June.
A nice idea, but there might be more chance of someone developing a vaccine by tomorrow.
On March 12, England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty said that he expects the UK to reach the peak of its coronavirus outbreak in around ten to 14 weeks. Mid-to-late June is when UEFA hopes football will somehow manage to defy a global pandemic and emerge from cold storage.
In an ideal world, the measures put in place by British politicians would work quickly and effectively.
Yet the rapid, frightening creep of Covid-19 has made predictions a difficult business.
At a time when SFA and SPFL insiders believe Scottish football will be lucky to see another ball kicked before August or September, finishing the league or playing a European Championships play-off against Israel at Hampden in June seems a hopelessly ambitious target.
Any hope that Europe’s governing body would use yesterday’s video summit to offer guidelines on what should happen if the current league campaigns can’t finish proved misguided. They chose, instead, to kick the can down the road. They passed the buck.
An unsatisfactory outcome now leaves Scotland — and other leagues — to bicker and row over sporting integrity and the best way to conclude a season which might already be beyond saving.
Rangers have already said they are unwilling to accept a scenario where the Premiership season ends prematurely and the SFA and SPFL declare Celtic champions based on current league placings.
Hearts owner Ann Budge, meanwhile, is seeking legal advice should the Edinburgh club be relegated with 24 points still to play for.
During these worrying times, civil war in Scottish football feels oddly comforting and normal.
Yet disputes like these are precisely UEFA moved the Euro finals back a year.
The problem is that the determination of Europe’s governing body to finish the season by hook or by crook fails to acknowledge the pressing financial problems of smaller leagues like Scotland.
Val McDermid, crime writer, professional Fifer and Raith Rovers devotee, summed up the concerns of many in a Tweet which read: ‘A lot of talk about football summit today, all concern focussed on the well-funded end of the game — top divisions, Euros, etc. But no notice paid to the real losers — the lower-division clubs with no cash reserves, no rich owners. They will simply disappear.’
The last UEFA benchmark report of 2018 showed that gate receipts account for 15 per cent of the average European club’s income. In Scotland, the average figure rises to 43 per cent.
For clubs here, the loss of matchday income is a disaster. English club Barnet became the first to lay off all non-playing staff in a costcutting measure yesterday. Scots clubs will inevitably follow suit.
With clubs urged to check their business disruption insurance by the SPFL, the Association of British Insurers now say standard policies won’t cover forced closure by the authorities.
And UEFA’s plan to complete the season in June is another savage blow to chairmen who had reconciled themselves to the SFA and SPFL ending the season early, calling the title and relegation and distributing the prize money as emergency relief cash.
Followed through, UEFA’s plan to put the season on hold and finish this summer would leave Scottish clubs with no prize money or gate money to tide them over. And if the season somehow
did resume in June? There’s a concern now that many lowerleague clubs will no longer be around to finish it.
A move by the SFA and SPFL joint response group to ignore
UEFA’s wishes and call the league anyway still can’t be ruled out if the UK government pass legislation later this week giving them the power to prohibit public events and gatherings in all four home nations. Right now, there’s a worry that doing so without government decree would allow broadcasters like Bt Sport and Sky to ask for their money back.
Any move to that effect would be deeply divisive. With no good options on the table, however, the best Scottish football can aspire to is the one which offers the most clubs a hope of survival. UEFA’s plans do the opposite.
Admitting these are ‘frightening times’ for football clubs — and not just in Scotland — Stenhousemuir chairman Iain McMenemy favours ending the leagues and paying out prize money, telling Sportsmail: ‘We’ve actually had a good couple of seasons financially. But that only protects us for so long.
‘My gut feeling is we will not be playing football again this season.
‘So we will have to pay out higher wages to players we brought in in January to make us safe — with no income coming in.
‘When the league was suspended we lost three home games — two against local teams Stirling Albion and Albion Rovers — and that denies us hospitality which we had already sold.
‘All of that is not coming in quickly now. And if it continues beyond that and we can’t run our summer camps or community programmes? We are talking a serious financial downturn for the club.
‘these really are frightening times for football clubs.’