Swanson: SPFL delay has failed footballers

DANNY SWANSON insists the ‘shambles’ surrounding the SPFL’s decision on ‘calling’ the Premiership has failed the league’s footballers.

The forward was one of seven players told they would not be getting new contracts at St Johnstone following the premature conclusion of the campaign.

The 33-year-old now faces an uncertain future in the game as clubs up and down the divisions discuss the practicalities of kicking off next term amidst the coronavirus crisis.

And the former Dundee United, Hearts and Hibs player claims the political shenanigans behind the scenes have had a major impact on careers on the pitch.

He said: “It took so long to tell us. Just end the league, because we weren’t going to get back to playing.

“Just end it so boys could get the opportunity to go and speak to clubs and clubs know what they’re doing next season and what league they’ll be in.

“I just thought they were taking so long. I don’t think they care about St Johnstone and stuff like that, it was more about the big clubs.

“We were getting messages from the PFA and I was thinking, ‘this is meaning nothing to me, just make a decision. All this is a lot of rubbish, just make a decision and give us a chance to sort our futures out’.

“It has totally [let the players down]. After lockdown started you could see how big an impact it had on the whole world. We were never going to finish this season. So scrap it.

“Make a decision and stop running around in circles. We’re picking up our phones every morning thinking, ‘what’s going on today? It’ll be next week, next week’. Shambles.”