‘No club should be relegated this year’

STEVEN LAWLESS believes that no teams should be relegated as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic – because clubs are being punished for something that hasn’t actually occurred.

Partick Thistle and Stranraer were relegated from the Championship and League One respectively after the Scotland’s lower leagues voted to prematurely conclude the 2019/20 season in April, with the Premiership following suit this month and relegating Hearts in the process.

Ann Budge has threatened legal action in the event that her club are relegated due to the campaign being brought to an end, and the Hearts owner is expected to present a proposal on reconstruction in the near future.

Livingston winger Lawless believes that any reconstruction proposal is doomed to fail as clubs will vote to protect themselves and insisted that the decision to send teams down does not sit well with him.

“I don’t think it’s right,” he said. “I don’t think teams should be punished for something that hasn’t even happened yet. Especially in the circumstances that they’re in, they’re going to be struggling financially as it is. So to put a club down when it’s not mathematically impossible for them to stay up, isn’t the best outcome.

“I think reconstruction is the best way but I don’t think the vote will go through. Teams are going to look after their own selfinterest. That’s why it didn’t go through initially and that’s why the vote to end the season went through in the first place.”