U-turn could see clubs Budge on revamp stance
good fun before a version of Ant and Dec’s Scavenger Hunt involving Griffiths and Jullien who were sent running about their houses, challenged to find various household items.
Griffiths was told to find something that reminded him of someone at Celtic.
He did himself no favours in his bid for a starting spot next season when he returned on camera with a tangerine and claimed it brought to mind his manager Neil Lennon.
Just when it looked as though a game of charades was next up, a question and answer session followed with a batch of young Celtic kids putting Brown and Forrest under interrogation.
One Under-12 hopeful grilled the skipper on his diet and pre-match meal requirements, which was revealed to be pasta and chicken prepared with just a touch of oil.
For these wide-eyed youngsters it was an unforgettable experience.
It provided a charming interlude and insight into a softer side of the man who, for almost a decade, has been the beating heart of the Hoops’ trophy trail.
It’s a ninth league winner’s medal for Forrest who was in a jovial and engaging mood for someone clearly in need of a visit to the barbers.
There’s something about Zoom that removes the intimacy of a normal gathering and, through all of the civil war taking place, you have to consider the coronavirus consequences for
Celtic. Robbed of proper celebrations, forced to remotely enjoy title-winning communion and making do with a mass outpouring of joy in much the same way most of us have been communicating through a window with our isolated and vulnerable loved ones.
So credit where credit’s due.
Winning a league in the midst of a pandemic doesn’t mean you have to be a party pooper – so fair play to Celtic for giving their fans something to mark the moment.
There was also a warning to Rangers over their target of making it 10-in-a-row – Celtic’s title lockdown isn’t going to be relaxed any time soon. despite SFA chief executive Ian Maxwel l claiming football could be played in Scotland in August, clubs fear the Championship kickoff could be pushed back to as late as January, when fans might be allowed back in.
That could include relegated Hearts unless Budge can push through plans for a 14-14-16 set-up.
Sta g g i es cha i rman MacGregor was one of six who decided to abandon a league revamp when talks collapsed last month.
But MacGregor says the goalposts have now moved due to the uncertainty over the Championship and that Budge has more chance of getting the 11-1 majority needed for change.
He told MailSport: “If we’re going to put people out of the game for six or seven months then it certainly moves the goalposts and every club in the Scottish Premiership would have sympathy to try to f ind some solution.
“It certainly softens me and I would put making sure another club has the chance to play football over the principle of not believing in a certain league structure.
“I still believe 12 teams is right but do I have sympathy if it was going to put a club out of footbal l for six months? Yes.
“And I’d be surprised if other clubs didn’t have an open mind to that. It would be wrong not to.
“We’d still have to see the proposal but I’d certainly reconsider my original stance. I wouldn’t like to see Hearts not playing football, that’s for sure.
“I’m very open to seeing what Ann puts forward. Is the 14-team league would be demoted when going back to the 12.
“I was against the 14-team league before because I wasn’t going to be able to sell a season ticket to my fans with certainty on what they were going to get.”
The SFA are set to find out at the end of June if they will receive financial help from FIFA and Maxwell believes clubs will be back playing in August.
He said: “I’m sure we can do that.
“We have to make sure we’re giving the government comfort and that we can do it in a manner that keeps everyone involved in the game safe.
“We’re working through a three- stage plan. It will start with a return to training, then move on to a return to matches, then obviously on to spectators being allowed back in to stadiums at some point.”
Ayr United chairman Lachlan Cameron insists low e r - lea g ue c lubs , including his own, will go to the wal l unless they receive desperately needed handouts to compensate for the loss of gate money.
He said: “You’d have clubs going to the wall sooner or later. If we don’t have money coming through the gates, we can’t possibly play without help from somewhere.
“Whether it comes from the SPFL, FIFA, UEFA or the government I don’t know but it’s the weekly wages that would be the breaking point for us.”
And he insists fans could safely socially distance.
He added: “Your average club in Scotland could socially distance without any problem. Somerset holds 10,800 but it’s same ground that held 25,000plus not that long ago.”