Del fears Covid-19 damage

Derek McInnes insists the integrity of this season’s Premiership campaign is in danger of being damaged due to heavy-handed SPFL punishments for clubs found guilty of Covid-19 breaches.

The Aberdeen boss believes a common-sense approach to sanctioning offending teams must be found after St Mirren and Kilmarnock were fined and forced to forfeit fixtures earlier in the campaign.

McInnes admits he has every sympathy with the Buddies and the Rugby Park side, who the Dons face in Ayrshire this lunchtime, and is adamant they’ve both paid a heavy price for falling foul of protocols.

He said: “The last thing we want as a league is to be deciding games without a ball being kicked.

“Could there have been something in between? I think there could have been.

“I wouldn’t have liked it to happen to me so I have great sympathy for the clubs.

“None of us wants points handed out without the games being played.

“Does the punishment fit the crime? I don’t know because I haven’t looked too much into the finer detail of the breaches.

“But I do understand that the SPFL are under pressure to show a heavy hand.”

The fourth-placed side are aiming to continue an impressive record at Rugby Park this afternoon.

And McInnes revealed managing during a season like no other is a challenge with every aspect of the job turned upside down by pandemic dos and don’ts.

He said: “Managing is different this season due to the Covid situation.

“Team meetings are a good example, we are having less of them and in much smaller groups.

“We have always been big on team spi r it and encouraging that side of things because we think that’s important.

“But so much of your work now is done in isolation and the players can’t meet up outwith training.

“There is also always that nervousness waiting for the test results because we have seen how easy it is for people to catch the virus.

“So a lot has changed this season, it’s not like a normal year and every manager will have had to adapt.”