Optimism for return of the lower leagues

Hopes are growing that the lower leagues will be given the goahead to return to action this week.

Football below the Championship in Scotland was suspended by the SFA on January 11.

In an attempt to help with the restart process clubs in League One and Two formed a working group and came up with a return-to-playing document which includes a pledge to conduct weekly coronavirus tests on personnel.

Discussions between the SFA and the Scottish Government have been ongoing over the last week and it appears the go-ahead could be given for some levels below the second tier to resume in the coming days.

National clinical director Jason Leitch has said “quite a lot of progress” has been made in that regard.

“It’s a conversation that’s ongoing, we (the government) have some influence,” said Mr Leitch on the BBC’s Off the Ball programme.

“We want to do it in a joined-up and collegiate way, we don’t like laws for elite sport and we don’t like to say ‘you can or you can’t do’.

“We want it to be done with the Joint Response Group (JRG), the minister for sport (Mairi Gougeon), the clinical advisers and we’ve made quite a lot of progress about what that next phase will look like.

“I’m pretty confident that this week there will be news which will indicate where we’re headed for the next phase.

“I’m hoping that will be joint Scottish Government and league (SPFL-SFA) news because we’re trying to do it together.

“But it’s complicated because there are the reasons given for why we should, but also 800 positive cases a day in the country, quite a lot of travel and these teams are not full-time so they’re not quite as protected as some of the full-time teams can be.

“It’s not quite as straightforward as it perhaps seems, but I’m hopeful we can do it with mitigation and safety in place.”

Hopes have also been raised about a return with lower league clubs notified about an extension to the loan window.

Normally the lower league loan window closes a month after the January transfer window shuts.

However, it’s understood the period for lower league teams to bring in players on short-term deals is to be extended until the end of March, which would allow clubs to add to their squads if they’re given the green light to resume this month.

Meanwhile, Mr Leitch also hinted that fans may be able to return in some numbers in some areas when lockdown in Scotland eases.

The country is set to return to a tiered system of restrictions from April 26.

Prior to the latest lockdown clubs in Level 1 were able to allow up to 300 fans into games.

That meant Ross County, Inverness Caley Thistle, Elgin City and 10 Highland League clubs in the Highlands and Moray were able to let supporters in.

Mr Leitch added: “All being well, if there’s no dramatic change for the better or for the worse, on April 26 Scotland will move back to some kind of regional level system.

“We haven’t said it will be individual local authorities and we haven’t said that everyone will move to Level 3, it might be that some people move to Level 2.

“It may be by that time we can move the whole country to Level 3 or Level 2, we have to wait for the data.”

UPDATE: National clinical director Jason Leitch.