SPFL’S TREATMENT OF THISTLE HAS BEEN SHAMEFUL, SAYS COLLINS
Jags hero Collins slams decision to dismiss league reconstruction as it was a ‘win-win for everyone’
WHEN Covid-19 first cast its shadow on Scottish football in mid-March, those tasked with ensuring the season reached some kind of equitable conclusion found themselves in the most invidious position.
With the Scottish Government prohibiting teams from even training until June 10, hundreds of players out of contract and clubs desperate for prize money, calling the leagues as they stood was seen as the least-worst option.
Small print in the deal, the SPFL reconstruction task force set out with the intention of righting the many wrongs that came with the curtain coming down. Two months on, despite no little talking, there has been no action to speak of.
Barring an extraordinary turn of events, Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer will be relegated from their respective divisions. Denied a fighting chance to save their skins, for many, it will be a wound that will never heal.
While only those with a heart of stone would have no sympathy for any of the three, the circumstances of Thistle’s case are particularly jarring. Ian McCall’s side were two points behind Queen of the South with a game in hand when the pause button was pressed. Rough justice doesn’t really cover it.
The fact that Gerry Collins is a former player, manager and assistant of the Firhill club is immaterial.
For the 65-year-old, the solution Scottish football has found to a unique problem is no solution at all. He finds it quite extraordinary that the one course of action which would have solved more problems than any other has so swiftly been kicked into touch.
‘It’s shameful that they’ve done that,’ said the man who rode sidesaddle to the legendary John Lambie. ‘They’ve not just penalised Thistle. They’ve penalised Hearts and Stranraer, too.
‘I understand that this is a very complicated situation. What’s going on in the world, with this pandemic, is unprecedented.
‘But the happy medium had to be league reconstruction. To try and keep everybody happy, why didn’t they promote two teams from every league?
‘Every club would have been saved and no one would have been punished.
‘That was a win-win situation for everyone — the easy solution. It was a chance to keep everybody happy. But, for whatever reason, the Premiership clubs didn’t want to entertain it a few weeks back.
‘The difficulty is that too many people are guided by self-interest. I would have loved to have sat down with the people who decided against it and asked them why they wouldn’t help teams like Hearts, Partick Thistle and Stranraer survive. Why not, in this day and age, help each other?’
A sense of injustice can be found beyond the senior leagues. As things stand, both Kelty Hearts and Brora Rangers will remain where they are, despite winning the Lowland and Highland Leagues respectively.
And all while Brechin City, whose chairman Ken Ferguson sits on the SPFL board, have been pushed into a lifeboat safe in the knowledge that they have no play-off to worry about.
If there is natural justice in all that, Collins (below) would like someone to point it out to him. ‘They’ve introduced a pyramid system which was long overdue,’ he added. ‘Teams like Kelty Hearts, who are managed by a top-class footballer in Barry Ferguson and who have invested a lot of money, had earned the right to be involved in a play-off. ‘The same applied to Brora. They should have been given that opportunity. What message does this send to other ambitious clubs in both the Lowland and Highland Leagues?
‘They had to keep the doors open to everyone. These clubs have probably got better facilities than most of the teams in League Two. Yet they’ve been denied the opportunity.
‘Brechin also now stay in the league without a worry. That’s just not right.
‘On the one hand, how can you relegate a team like Thistle who had a game in hand but, on the other, a side like Brechin doesn’t even have to go through a play-off?
‘The whole thing just doesn’t sit well with me. Somewhere along the line, common sense should have prevailed.’
Last week, SPFL CEO Neil Doncaster sought to separate the myriad issues by asking the 42 clubs if they would be in favour of a 14-team top flight and, if not, what might persuade them otherwise.
While that issue plainly would have no bearing on Thistle at this point in time, Collins still regrets the fact that it’s unlikely to come to pass in time to save Hearts.
‘I think it’s too late in the day,’ he added.
‘A 14-team Premiership should have come in but we’re now in the middle of June and teams are going back to training. ‘Okay, the Premiership clubs would have got a slightly smaller share of the TV money as there would then be two more teams involved.
‘But the flip side of the coin would be that they would have a better chance of staying in the league. Surely that’s worth it.
‘Years ago, when I was at Thistle, clubs wouldn’t go for reconstruction because they wanted to keep the closed shop.
‘Clubs were happy that both Celtic and Rangers would come to their grounds twice each with the revenue that would bring. ‘But now, when they play at Aberdeen, Hibernian, Hearts, Kilmarnock, their allocations have been hugely cut.
‘So, it seems that they don’t feel as if they need the Old Firm as much. They can still survive.
‘Surely, then, they would have been happy to share the TV money they have with another two clubs.’
Rangers’ proposal for a 14-14-18 set-up offers a panacea to many ills. Hearts and Thistle would be spared the drop, Kelty and Brora would join Old Firm colt teams in the bottom tier.
Much-needed cash would be injected into the lowest rung of the senior set-up.
But despite enjoying the backing of Celtic, it too looks set to come to nothing — for the time being, at least.
Barring a bolt out of the blue, three clubs will be relegated and the acrimony will be seismic.
Given the extraordinary circumstances, it’s legitimate to ask if some fans may even turn their backs on the game.
‘Things move on don’t they?’ continued Collins.
‘People will be bitter and resentful for some time.
‘But as long as Thistle fans have a club to support, that will still be the main thing.
‘I was talking to some people at the club last week and that was their feeling too.
‘As unfair as this situation is, they want a club to come back to.
‘They are diehards. They obviously don’t want to be in the lower leagues.
‘But if that’s where they have to be, then they’ll get on with it and hopefully see them come back up the divisions.’