Goodwin: Time we all got real
Jim Goodwin says Scottish football needs a reality check – and insists arguments over titles and relegation are irrelevant during the virus crisis.
The St Mirren boss is tired of hearing clubs with agendas demanding what would serve them best following last week’s shutdown of Scottish football.
And he has urged everyone to take time out and consider what ’s important as the killer coronavirus sweeps across the world.
Goodwin said: “When it comes down to it, sport is utterly irrelevant at the moment.
“This is a global pandemic and people are dying out there.
“Finding a cure and vaccinating everyone has to be the priority. In all honesty, whoever wins the league or goes down is unimportant.”
Saints entered lockdown fourth from bottom of the suspended Premiership table – just two points clear of Hamilton Accies in the play-off position.
Rangers have insisted that the remaining eight Premiership fixtures MUST be completed with fans in attendance while bottom club Hearts are threatening legal action if they are relegated without more games being played.
Goodwin admitted: “I wouldn’t want to be in Ian Maxwell’s or Neil Doncaster’s shoes.
“We’re all in a difficult situation and I can only imagine what clubs like Celtic, Hearts and Dundee United are going through.
“But if the season can’t be finished then I see no problem with Celtic or United being proclaimed champions – they’re so far ahead and have been out in front for months.
“Relegation would seem unfair on Hearts though as they still have a fighting chance of staying up.
“What do we do? I’m not in favour of playing behind closed doors because football without fans is meaningless.
“We’ve been off for over a week now and the players’ fitness levels will drop dramatically in the next fortnight.
“We’ve been told we can’t train in groups but it would make no sense to put them at risk by doing that when they didn’t have a game to train for anyway.
“The lads are off for now then we’ll see where we are. In the meantime, they’ve each been given individual programmes to follow on their own.”