McCall: Voiding SPFL season feasible plan

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall insists voiding the SPFL season is a feasible solution should the coronavirus pandemic mean that the remaining fixtures cannot be played.

McCall’s own team fear the governing body could rule that current standings in all four divisions are final, which would mean relegation for Thistle, even though they are only two points adrift of Queen of the South in the Championship with a game in hand.

Hearts are in a similar position at the Premiership basement and owner Ann Budge has already vowed that the club would take legal action should they be demoted without the remaining eight games being played.

Experienced former Dundee United, Falkirk and Ayr United boss McCall believes forgetting this campaign ever happened should be considered.

McCall said: “I don’t know about legal action. I have pored over the leagues and pored over solutions and came up with about 19 different ones.

“Celtic, Dundee United and Cove Rangers, if they weren’t awarded the title, would feel very hard done by.

“In football it’s never over until it’s over. At our club we’re a bit unique in that we have games in hand against the teams above us and I think it would be very harsh.

“If I was still manager of Ayr United I would still say it would be harsh to relegate Partick Thistle from the situation they’re in.

“Hearts will say they have it in their own hands as, because of the split, they will play all the bottom teams again.

“It’s just an incredibly hard situation. It’s important to be clear I don’t think anybody wants to void the season but I think you’re going to have to.

“I would think it would be hugely unfair for my own club to be put down. We’ve got a quarter of the season to go and we’ve got games in hand above us.

“My attitude would be that if we get put down then we’ll win two titles in a row instead of one.”

McCall, however, believes the idea of league reconstruction to award titles and avoid relegation could also work.

That would see the top-flight become a 14-team league with Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts joining League Two.

He added: “I don’t think any team should be worse off if we don’t finish the league.

“I think there is an argument to do the two up.

“You can understand that might work but it all comes down to awarding titles.

“If Dundee United, Raith Rovers, Falkirk and Cove Rangers get promoted I don’t think they would care about a title but it’s different in the Premiership, because of the amount of titles they’ve won.

“I genuinely cannot see football being played in front of spectators until August at the very earliest.

“We can review that every three or four weeks but I don’t think we’ll play any earlier than that.”

Partick Thistle manager Ian McCall.