So what we knew was always going to happen did take place yesterday. UEFA’s stance of asking it’s member federations to play the season to its conclusion did not change as they stuck by their initial assessment of completing the current season. They did say, as is always the case, they would look at certain exceptional requests in their meeting yesterday which was attended by SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell.
Further complicating matters is the fact that Rangers are still in the Europa League. UEFA wants all outstanding European competitions to be finished first and foremost and calling off a domestic season flies in the face of that. In other words, everything we went through for the last 14 days (or more to be fair) was for nothing.
In fact Daily Record (yes I know, but it is important to link them in this instance) reported last night that SPFL would not go against UEFA to declare Celtic champions in that instance. According to them, this is what a Hampden source told them, “UEFA clearly want leagues around Europe to hold off before making any final decisions on ending this current season so they are unlikely to give permission for countries to do their own thing. There is no chance the SPFL will just ignore this and declare Celtic champions on Friday.
“But it is expected they will be open to requests from any league which has ‘exceptional circumstances’ and the SPFL will most probably be one of them as our new season is scheduled to begin with the League Cup in the second week of July.
“And that’s before the latest Government advice is even factored into the equation as well as the First Minister’s warning about the dangers of playing games behind closed doors.”
Reading in between the lines of the source, SPFL seems ready to concede to UEFA but are trying to find excuses for everything Scottish football had to go through in the last many days. Given Rangers’ commitment to European football, how in the world are Scottish football going to start the League Cup in the second week of July? Are SPFL and SFA planning to run concurrent seasons? Madness, and nothing else. Of course, even SPFL knows this will never happen, and this is just spin to put the focus away on why exactly they went through all this when something productive like saving lower league clubs by giving loans could have been done.
Why Did SPFL Go Through This For 2 Weeks Straight?
Good question. If anyone knows, please let us in on this as well. After all, I called this on my column on 11th April, just one day after the Friday vote took place when we still thought Dundee had voted against the SPFL resolution. You can read that column on the timeline of the SPFL incompetence here but most importantly here is the relevant part: “Some context before we go further, FA had already rejected using this ‘average point per game’ system to finish off the league seasons in England. Smart too as UEFA are supposedly opposed to the leagues being called without sufficient time being taken to arrive at a decision. This is why the Belgian FA are on standby to see what the decision from UEFA would be regarding their declaring the league season over a week ago. That is why we were surprised to see SPFL go ahead with this resolution.”
Now I am not Nostradamus, but everyone and their dog could have seen that this would have happened? So why exactly did SPFL go though with everything risking a lot of negative PR on them as well? And they did get a lot of heat from publications which are generally supportive or neutral on the SPFL.
I have talked a lot about the inconsistencies in the SPFL in recent days and even highlighted their hypocrisy. You can find them in our coverage. So, I am, for now, not going into that. If you want a new update though, feel free to go through this comprehensive Guardian piece. Knowing everything you know, you might not feel that moved, but for someone reading it for the first time, their heads would explode that this is the governing football body of Scotland.
The SPFL risked a lot of heat to push this resolution through, and truthfully even an internal impartial investigation on this would not be enough as it would drag on for months and the outrage over this would mostly be muted when the results come out. Public pressure needs to be put on the SPFL, and even UEFA need to be made aware of everything that went through to pass the SPFL resolution. Make them back up their action in front of UEFA, and I bet you that they will still try to do so with a straight face. However, no one will be buying what they are selling. This is still far from over. Share this piece to make sure the truth is known.
