Players desperate to get back to business – PFA Scotland chief

PFA Scotland chief executive Fraser Wishart says lower league players are desperate to get back playing.

Football below the Championship has been suspended since January 11 but talks are ongoing over a possible restart date.

Wishart says the members of the players’ union are anxious to get fixtures going again as soon as possible.

He said: “We’ve done a survey of lower-league players and 89% of them in League One and Two want to return to playing.

“So there’s a real desire to return, and 70% of players have said they’d even be willing to get back without testing.

“There’s a real push from the players. Some of it is down to mental health and welfare involved in not playing.

“There are small, individual issues around travelling and work.

“But, ultimately, the players just want to get back to playing.

“They are competitive people. If it means going to an 18-game season, that might be the only way to get the season finished.

“It’s difficult because they’re part-time and we’re in a pandemic.

“It’s hard taking yourself away from your own situation as a footballer, where you just want to play.

“The government is saying, ‘Hang on, these players are out and about’.

“But there’s a balance to be struck. If lowerleague players want to return – and they can test – I don’t see why it should be a problem.

“This is information that we’ll feed into the Scottish Government and the Joint Response Group in the next few days.

“We’ve not had particularly great consultation with the JRG. We decided early on that we just had to look after our members, which we’ve done.

“Our role is to send that information in and let the governing body make the final decisions.”

Wishart has been impressed with the way Scottish football has risen to the challenge of the pandemic, despite incidents of players breaking protocols being strongly criticised by politicians.

He said: “The word ‘privilege’ has been used many times.

“But unlike other industries, football actually pays for that privilege by testing.

“That’s only right and fair.

“But when you think of the number of tests – tens of thousands – there have been very few cases of players with Covid.

“When the system picks up a player with Covid, it works. You can isolate them, protect the squad and wider society.

“No one else is going to their work and going through as rigorous a process as football.

“There’s always going to be isolated incidents and a few players have broken lockdown rules.

“They have to abide by them because they’re no different to anyone else.

“There are always isolated incidents which get headlines.

“But in general, the compliance has been admirable.”

Fraser Wishart says the delay has been hard.