Football chiefs consider potential routes out of lockdown

A plan to restart Scottish football at a number of regional hubs around the country has been discussed by the game’s governing bodies – with Dundee and Fife mooted as potential locations.

Talks aimed at clearing a path for football’s return have been taking place for the last two weeks under the umbrella of the SFA and SPFL’s coronavirus joint response group (JRG).

The initial report from the six JRG sub groups tasked with laying out a roadmap has revealed number of potential routes out of lockdown.

But chief amongst them is a proposal to begin next season’s lower league games at a selection of hub stadiums around Scotland, which would stage multiple games over a weekend.

Discussions – which have involved the Scottish Government’s strategic football lead, David Hamilton – remain at an early stage.

However, with SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan this week urging football clubs and

astakeholders to do “everything humanly possible” to help the game resume “by the end of July”, the pressure is on to find a solution for the Scottish game.

The hub plan was revealed in the first fortnightly report from the JRG’s restart sub groups, and will be further honed over the next two weeks by the “club and stadium operations” group, of which Dundee United’s head of football admin and legal affairs, Laura McCallum, is a member.

Tommy Wright brought the best out of Callum Hendry with plenty of “tough love” and the St Johnstone striker wants more of it when a new manager is in the Perth dugout.

The Northern Irishman’s judgment on when to start the young striker and when to introduce him from the bench reaped impressive rewards, with Hendry scoring nine times in 2019/20.

The 22-year-old knows what style of leadership works for him and doesn’t want that to change.

Hendry said: “Tommy dealt with me in the best way possible. He didn’t rush me into the team and I had to earn my spot.

“He basically just said I wasn’t ready yet and that he couldn’t trust me fully to start a game.

“But I have always thrived off something like that. Tough love was the best way to get the best out of me. I hope the next manager is someone like that.”