ALLOA TO BUILD 40 CHANGING PODS

EXCLUSIVE

ALLOA are planning to build 40 individual changing pods for players and officials in time for a return to Championship action in October. Chairman Mike Mulraney has drawn up proposals for cubicles incorporating personal toilet facilities within the Alloa Leisure Bowl, close to the Indodrill Stadium. The plans will quadruple the size of the changing facilities that currently exist for both home and away players. And, after handing 15 players new contracts ahead of the secondtier kick-off on October 17, the SFA vice-president Mulraney has promised to protect his part-timers from coronavirus by creating a bio-secure environment. He told Sportsmail: ‘Football is going to be different, but we don’t know what that different looks like yet. ‘But we can make a pretty fair guess and we need to be ready for it. ‘Obviously, we are looking at our testing options and how we will deal with that. ‘And, when training and games

return, our changing rooms will no longer be fit for purpose. ‘So we are creating new changing facilities four times the size of what we have now, with each player being given his own individual pod. ‘We are looking at 40 individual changing pods to start with. We think, right now, that seems the likely requirement for when we come back. ‘Every player will have their own toilet and personal pod to change in and have their own secure environment. ‘To the world they are footballers but, to

Alloa, they are staff. We have to ensure they are safe. ‘We can’t wait and hope that the facilities might be okay. We have to make the assumption they won’t be. ‘So the plans are advanced and we are very fortunate that we have a leisure centre next door to our ground where we can create some pretty large changing areas with separate pods for our guys for training — with a review of what the legislation entails when game time comes. ‘We are taking steps to make sure that Alloa players and the away teams have a safe environment to play football in.’

As Sportsmail revealed this week, Championship clubs intend to follow the scheduled Premiership kick-off on August 1 by starting the second tier on October 17, playing 27 games instead of the usual 36. A member of the SFA and SPFL Joint Response Group, Mulraney has fulfilled a promise to last season’s group of players to offer them all terms, with 15 signing new deals this week. ‘When football stopped, we made our players a commitment that every one of them would be offered a contract,’ he added. ‘Therefore, they have been offered a contract.

Mulraney, meanwhile, is likely to vote

against the latest plan for a 14-10-10-10 structure designed to save Hearts from relegation. With others in the Championship likely to follow suit, the SPFL have asked clubs to offer an indicative vote to the proposal on Monday morning. The Wasps chairman admitted: ‘Alloa has always been of the opinion that three leagues of 14 would be a better shape for Scottish football. ‘While we are very sympathetic to reconstruction, we think it’s hugely difficult to implement it at the end of a season.’