Comment: The SPFL is merely succeeding in declaring itself null and void

Governing body must explore all avenues before bringing the top-flight season to a halt

Morgaro Gomis, left, and Ross Matthews tussle during champions Raith Rovers’ 1-1 draw with Falkirk last month. Picture: Michael Gillen

From the outset of the Covid-19 crisis, it was the outcome they were most determined to avoid.

But, in the end, declaring their 2019-20 season null and void is effectively what the SPFL has managed to achieve through the ham-fisted implementation of the resolution which has sown so much discord within its 
membership.

It’s no reflection on the fine work of managers Robbie Neilson, John McGlynn and Paul Hartley but the titles awarded to Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers in the Championship, League 1 and League 2 this week have an unavoidably hollow ring to them.

In the circumstances, it felt no more than appropriate that they were confirmed as ‘champions’ in the form of a bland statement of congratulations from SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan.

Dundee United and Cove Rangers, of course, would almost certainly have won their respective titles in any event. Raith Rovers, just a point ahead of Falkirk and with a vastly inferior goal difference to their closest challengers, enjoyed no such degree of probability.

But in all three cases, the titles dished out on Wednesday after the resolution was passed are now set to become a complete irrelevance.

The promise of league reconstruction, which appears to have underpinned the extraordinary conduct of Dundee throughout a voting process which has shredded the reputation of the SPFL executive, means United, Raith and Cove would have climbed up a division in any case.

Under the 14-10-10-10 model being mooted, Falkirk would also be ‘promoted’. The damnable relegations imposed on Partick Thistle and Stranraer by the resolution would be cancelled, while Highland and Lowland League ‘champions’ Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts will join League 2.

So, everyone’s a winner? If you are Brechin City, whose chairman Ken Ferguson sits on the SPFL board which produced the resolution, you’ll certainly believe that’s the case as it rescues you from a potential exit from the senior divisions.

But the reality is that there can really be no credible winners in a season which is not completed on the pitch.

If, as seems likely, the SPFL also call time on the Premiership next week, should Uefa’s executive committee meeting gives top flight leagues the go-ahead to do so, then Celtic will inevitably suffer from the same perception.

That would be grossly unjust on Neil Lennon and his players whose exceptional form since the winter break left them firmly in command of the quest for a record-equalling ninth consecutive title win.

Nonetheless, the history books would always show that dreaded asterisk next to the title winners’ name should the campaign be halted with almost a quarter of the league fixtures still to play.

With the SPFL determining league positions on a points-per-game basis, Celtic’s 13-point lead over Rangers, who have a game in hand with 27 points to play for, will translate into a healthy advantage. Yet the Ibrox club will be able to use a similar mathematical formula to claim Celtic have only won 8.79 in a row.

As keen as they are to dish out end-of-season prize money to top flight clubs, just as they now have in the lower three divisions, the SPFL should resist the temptation to declare their flagship competition over before they have exhausted all possible avenues 
to complete the full 38-game campaign.

With PFA Scotland now softening their stance on players being involved in behind closed doors matches, that’s an option the SPFL should not be dismissing out of hand. If they want the 2019-20 
Premiership table to take its proper place in the record books, it must be played to a finish. Otherwise, it really will be no better than null and void.