Reconstruction redux has left SPFL supporters in limbo
NO live football for the guts of three months has felt a lot like chewing over the same stale piece of gum. The topic of league reconstruction has only added to the constant and repetitive gnawing of the cud.
This vote – the fourth on the topic – will be called on Monday. The chatter is that it is likely to be closer than the other three as clubs made a call on breaking up the status quo.
Hearts and Rangers have seen proposals chucked out before they had any real traction. The most recent proposal – to make permanent a top flight of 14 teams, keep the Championship, League
One and League Two at 10 but bring Highland and Lowland champions Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts into the mix too – appeals to a fairly wide range. Come 10am on Monday morning we will know if there is enough encouragement for it that will lend it a more formal structure in terms of getting through an official ballot.
Hearts and Partick Thistle have been left dangling throughout the last month as they wait to see what their immediate fate is.
However, with change needing the backing of 11 from the top 12 clubs, it is always a fairly substantial bar to clear to have any kind of motion pushed through.
With clubs now heading back to a revised form of training with one eye on getting the season up and running in August, there is a need for clarity and for leadership.
We should be mindful of what has happened in France this week – the national court blocked the decision to relegate Toulouse and Amiens. Like Scotland, a call was made to end the season early with relegation imposed and subsequently challenged by those whose plight was sealed with the decision.
There is no question of the previous French season resuming but rather the
French state council has encouraged a proposal to increase the size of the league.
It’s fair to say that Ann Budge will have been watching the situation unfold with some interest. Scottish football hears about litigation threats almost as often as it does about reconstruction talks but on this matter it would be foolish to suspect that it is without intent given what is at stake.
And, crucially, when it comes to drawing up fixture lists and getting football back up and running then any legal challenge will be a massive spoke in that particular wheel.
That will be a secondary concern to the thought about the financial ramifications were any legal argument to end successfully in favour of the football clubs.
There is more than just sympathy for Hearts’ situation. There is also the reality that the league is more profitable with the Tynecastle side in it; the draw of an Edinburgh derby carries appeal to broadcasting companies too.
But if clubs and players whose contracts are coming to an end find themselves entangled in the midst of uncertainty, spare a thought too for the forgotten ones among all of this.
In unprecedented times and as uncertainly about what comes next continues to cloud be offset against their future season books if they don’t get the full quota of game this term. It at least demonstrates a willingness to give and take.
Innovation was the buzzword for a while around how clubs would have to feel their way around this current crisis but there seems to have been a significant lack of joined-up thinking around the issue of season ticket renewals.