Time to call Celtic as champs, claims ex-SPL boss Mitchell

Former SPL chief executive Roger Mitchell is adamant Scottish football should follow Belgium and “call” the leagues, declaring Celtic Premiership champions.

But the finance and business advisor, now based in Italy, believes Hearts should be saved from relegation.

In a break with the rest of European football, Belgian top-flight chiefs have cancelled the remainder of the current season and handed league leaders Club Brugge the title.

Brugge were 15 points clear of Gent at the top of the Jupiler Pro League and officials admit playing games before the end of June is “highly unlikely” due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Such a move here, which would see Celtic crowned champions, has attracted endless arguments, but Mitchell believes finishing the season – as Rangers want – is unrealistic.

He said: “If you could, you would postpone and wait until you could start again. Unfortunately, that is probably not an option, for two reasons.

“First of all, you’re not on your own, there are European competitions and international football, there’s the needs of broadcasters, there’s contracts, there’s sponsors.

“So, you can’t do that in isolation, purely for sporting reasons.

“Secondly, clubs need to live and one of the things that has allowed them to live is the sale of season tickets – and you cannot sell them in this amount of uncertainty.

“So, you’re in the world of triage, in the world of least-bad decisons, so what are your options?

“I don’t think you can continue to drag this on and hope that some miracle happens and it all falls into place.

“You have to take the pain in one season and you have to decide which season it’s going to be.

“Do you take the pain in 2019-20 or do you take the pain in 20-21?

“And I think you have to take it in 19-20 and I think you need to call this league.”

However, whilst Mitchell reckons the SPFL should call a halt to the season now and declare Celtic champions, he is convinced Hearts should be spared relegation to the Championship.

With eight games remaining, Jambos chief executive Ann Budge has vowed to launch a legal challenge if her club is demoted.

And Mitchell, who led the SPL for just over four years from its inception in 1998, believes league reconstruction is the best compromise.

He added to PLZ Soccer: “If you are thinking about the welfare of your member clubs then that [relegation] is a big decision.

“We’re talking about Hearts and that’s a dramatic change in their business reality.

“I would certainly investigate the idea of not having relegation and bringing up the others, and having some temporary, expanded league.

“The difficulty then is how you get out of that in [subsequent] years, but I’m sure you can do it and that’s what I would be looking at.”

Roger Mitchell – call season now.