SWANSON POINTS THE FINGER AT ‘SHAMBOLIC’ SPFL

FORMER St Johnstone, Hearts and Hibernian star Danny Swanson has described the SPFL as a ‘shambles’ after accusing them of failing the nation’s footballers.

The midfielder was among seven out-of-contract players released by the McDiarmid Park side after the Premiership season was declared over with eight games remaining. And Swanson feels the governing body have let players down as a result of the lengthy bickering and delays which eventually saw Celtic declared champions and his former Tynecastle employers relegated.

‘They took so long to tell us — just end the league, because we weren’t going to get back playing,’ said the 33-year-old. ‘Just end it so boys can get an opportunity to go and speak to clubs and stuff, and so clubs know what league they will be in.

‘I just felt they were taking so long and I don’t think they care about the St Johnstones and (clubs like) that. I think it was more the big clubs (they were concerned about).

‘We were getting messages from the PFA and I’m thinking: “This is meaning nothing to me, just make a decision”. ‘It was a lot of rubbish, just make a decision and give us a chance to sort our futures out.

‘After the lockdown started, we could see how big an impact it was having on the whole world.

‘They were never going to finish this season, so scrap it.

‘I’d give Celtic the league, because they deserved it.

‘Obviously I felt sorry for Hearts but you couldn’t say: “Give Celtic the league and don’t relegate Hearts”.

‘But make a decision. There are folk going round in circles and we are the ones picking up our phone every morning thinking: “What’s going on today”?

‘Then it’s: “Oh, next week, next week”. Shambles!’

Defender Richard Foster told Sportsmail after leaving Ross County this week that the Dingwall club had been ‘short-sighted’ in not allowing their 14 axed players to maintain an income from the Government’s furlough scheme at the end of their contracts. And Swanson was similarly surprised Saints did not do more to look after players in their time of need.

‘The furlough scheme was brilliant for players and I thought teams would take it up but, unluckily for us, St Johnstone decided to go against it, which surprised me,’ he said. ‘I was gutted.’