The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Time’s run out for ambiguity
McInnes calls on authorities to give clubs clarity during pandemic
Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has urged the football authorities to provide clubs with some much needed certainty during the coronavirus outbreak.
Scottish football has been put on hold indefinitely due to the pandemic with less than a quarter of the season remaining.
No timescale can be provided for when football will return but what is even more unclear is whether the current campaign will be concluded, deemed null and void or current league positions declared final. The Aberdeen manager hopes the season can be played to a finish but believes of greater importance for clubs, managers, players and supporters is some guidance.
He said: “I think the Uefa decision to leave it in the hands of each federation didn’t make things any clearer.
“I can understand that when you look at the news on a daily basis and the situation becomes far more critical as we go along then even thinking or talking about football seems irrelevant.
“It is the game we love, it is the industry that we are involved in and I think decisions are going to be tough, whenever it is safe for us to get back and playing football.
“In an ideal world we would get to finish the season, and everybody would pick back up where they finished off. We have a Scottish Cup that we want to try to win as well and we had done so well to get into the semi-final stage. Whenever we pick up on that it will be exciting again. I totally understand that if we run out of weeks and months some sort of decision will need to be made. “I felt that, from our point of view, we were starting to pick up a bit of form and consistency of performance and we were looking forward to the season finishing. “Whatever way the authorities go, they need to get that certainty. Hopefully we can get those decisions soon which I think will help every club.”
Public health and following all practical steps to slow the spread of the virus remain the top priority and the Aberdeen manager has urged the public to follow the guidance from the government.
He said: “It is the only way that we are going to get rid and limit the damage that it has and will cause.
“I think we are all appreciating the way of life that we had and the luxuries that we had.
“Football is a huge a miss for everybody, it is so important in all of our lives – but there are somethings more important right now. Hopefully we come out the other end of it.”