The Olympics have fallen... when will football wake up?
SO maybe now the penny will drop. Perhaps those with real influence over Scottish, British, European and world football will stop living in denial — and level with fans so ill-served by a steady drip, drip of humming, hawing, buck-passing and pretence.
Now that the Olympics have finally fallen, dare we dream of more courageous and honest leadership across the beautiful game? We can but hope.
Because kidding on that domestic football could be back within a matter of weeks, still the official stance of some in power, is not merely an insult to the collective intelligence of supporters. It’s damaging to the credibility of any organisation still adhering to such a nonsensical line.
Like a chief purser busily arranging a game of shuffleboard even while the ship slips under the waves, the game’s administrators — the grown-ups in the room, remember — would appear reluctant to face reality.
Both the SPFL and SFA followed England’s lead, to the letter, last week in declaring that football would be suspended until ‘at least April 30’. Now, you don’t have to hold an MBA to understand that there are commercial reasons behind this mutual reluctance to deal in hard facts.
But there comes a point when leaders owe a debt of honesty to the people who, as we are constantly reminded, represent the lifeblood of the industry.
Yes, yes, the only certainty at the moment is uncertainty. And the loophole-exploiting response, in certain unscrupulous quarters, to every government attempt to protect the population definitely doesn’t inspire good faith.
There must be a genuine fear, particularly in Scottish football, that any hint at a longer cessation of play would prompt broadcast partners and sponsors to cut and run without a backwards glance.
But come on, folks. Let’s be serious for a moment. Let’s be straight with all those punters currently selling off memorabilia, raiding savings accounts and spending what little they have just to keep their teams from going under.
When Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack talks about planning for this shutdown to last up to six months, do you think he’s just plucking that number out of thin air?
September. To save you doing the maths, that’s when someone with an actual stake in the game is planning for a return to ‘normality’. Yet, down south, Premier League stars are rightly in open revolt over a plan — and this is genuinely something put forward by owners — to start playing closed-doors games as early as May 2 or 3.
Are. You. Kidding. Me? May? That’s just about when we expect the coronavirus to hit its peak in the UK. So, yeah, Crystal Palace v Burnley in front of zero fans isn’t going to happen.
North of the border, PFA Scotland have already rejected previous suggestions involving members putting themselves and their families at risk by playing to empty stands.
Nobody in authority would be damn fool enough to ask the same question again, right? Forget about May. Kiss goodbye to June.
Over at UEFA, the slow retreat from fantasy land has now seen the Champions League and Europa League finals officially postponed until July.
European football’s governing body is also confident, incidentally, that the qualifying rounds of those competitions could take place soon after.
If that means kicking off next season before this year’s domestic campaigns are finished — some trick if member associations don’t know who to send as their representatives — then so be it. You couldn’t make this stuff up.
Even allowing for the fact that football could technically restart at very short notice, perhaps a threeweek ‘pre-season’ to get everyone in shape, a July resumption seems wildly optimistic.
Is it just the case, then, that nobody wants to be the bad guy? That football is waiting for governments to declare a longer shutdown, while the politicians prevaricate and hope that the game itself shoulders the blame?
We deserve better. And the IOC’s inevitable decision to push Tokyo 2020 back until 2021 should act as a wake-up call to all who think they can keep stringing the public along with half-hearted promises of ‘just a few more weeks’.
Just level with us. We can take it. Honest.