POINTLESS
Nobody wants to watch football without crowds. We shouldn’t be doing what we are doing purely for the sake of a TV deal. I know the clubs want the money but, surely to God, between the Scottish and British governments, they can make up the shortfall for a
IN the course of his day job, Jim McInally receives constant reminders of just how wrong Bill Shankly was. The Liverpool icon famously observed that football was not simply a matter of life or death, but far more important than that.
Before McInally took up a role delivering medicine to the old and the needy for a Broughty Ferry pharmacy, the Peterhead FC boss might have had some sympathy with that view. These days, he’s not so sure.
‘I deliver medicine to old people holed up in their homes,’ he tells
Sportsmail. ‘They’re scared, they think there’s a plague out there. It’s not right. I’d love to take Nicola Sturgeon round with me to see how frightened people are. It’s causing a lot of mental damage to the elderly who suffer most out of this.’
The First Minister argues she is trying to keep the elderly safe by driving down the rising number of daily coronavirus cases. To that end, the UK and Scottish Governments have enforced a new package of restrictions. They are likely to delay the phased reintroduction of supporters to live sport for up to six months.
The financial harm to football clubs in Scotland and England from no gate income until 2021 could be catastrophic.
Scottish Premiership games are played behind closed doors to keep the cash from a new five-year £125million Sky contract rolling in. But the cost of locking fans out remains ruinous.
Those who purchased Premiership virtual season tickets in the hope of returning to the real thing before the turn of the year could now ask for their money back. A decision to begin the lower leagues on October 17 now looks rash and optimistic.
‘I don’t think there’s any point in playing without crowds,’ adds McInally. ‘Does anyone? It’s not a good spectacle and even the English football is hard to watch at times.
‘The Premiership teams play behind closed doors to keep the Sky money coming. But I’m pretty sure there are teams in the Premiership that can’t do without crowds. And then you look at the Championship. How many can really survive without crowds?’
Aberdeen have already sold Scott McKenna to fill a financial black hole. Not every Scottish club has that option.
The English Premier League estimate their game is losing £100million a month without fan income or hospitality. At every level, the crisis is eating through cash.
‘It’s not just the loss of gate income,’ says McInally. ‘The loss of hospitality income is just as important.
‘In our ground, we could accommodate 500 fans with no problem. There would be no one anywhere near each other, watching a game and doing their mental health the power of good.
‘I get the argument about trains and transport to games spreading it. But, if that’s the case, just let local fans and families go.
‘I don’t think this is purely a lower-league problem. There are some big clubs in the Premiership,
Championship and League One who won’t be able to keep going like this. They’re talking about battening down the hatches for six months. If that’s the case, let us know and we can make some decisions fast.’
The SFA/SPFL Joint Response Group joined forces with the SRU to make the case for the return of fans to stadia.
A series of pilot events were authorised, with 700 watching a Pro14 rugby match between Edinburgh and Glasgow at Murrayfield in August. Handed a yellow card for lockdown breaches by players, football was made to wait a little longer.
Aberdeen and Ross County hosted 300 fans on a test basis this month but, privately, the SPFL feel the Scottish Government have never taken the return of fans to football grounds especially seriously.
No government official attended either Premiership test event. And plans for further pilots have been shelved.
With the sport facing a bleak winter with no sustainable income, McInally believes it’s time to ask two questions.
If football really is a threat to public health during a pandemic, why play it at all? And if it’s not, why put community clubs at risk of extinction by ignoring the time and expense already put in to bringing the fans to grounds in limited numbers?
‘Celtic and Rangers should unite and put pressure on the Scottish Government to clarify where we are,’ he says.
‘If things are so bad that football is a grave threat to public health, then call a halt to it. We can’t put the health of people at risk just to keep Sky Sports happy.
‘Games without crowds are rubbish. Sunday’s game with Hibs and Rangers was decent, but the spectacle has been poor and fewer and fewer people will watch it.
‘Let’s get quarter crowds in or a figure like that. Let’s halt this stop-start stuff.
‘And if it really is so bad we can’t get fans in, then let’s stop altogether. Let’s not carry on with this charade, this halfway house and mixed messages.
‘I don’t care if it’s a ten-in-a-row season. Nobody wants to watch football without crowds — it’s pointless.
‘I know clubs want the (Sky) money but, surely to God, between the Scottish and British governments, they can make up the shortfall for a year?’
Boris Johnson insists the Chancellor and the Culture Secretary are working on measures to relieve the burden on sporting bodies in England. McInally believes the time has come for Holyrood to be equally creative.
‘If the SPFL was to go cap in hand to Nicola Sturgeon and said: “We will stop for the sake of public health, we are prepared to do it, but this is what it will cost to take a headache away from you” then they’d have to take that on board.
‘To keep going down this road of uncertainty is hopeless.
‘Football is so important in Scotland. It would take a headache away from the government if they just nailed this issue and subsidised the SPFL and other sporting bodies for six months, if that’s what it takes.’