SPFL saga rumbles on to Hampden but end is in sight

Hearts’ and Partick Thistle’s case thrown out court but hope remains

Hearts’ last match: a 1-0 loss at St Mirren in March which left them rooted to the foot of the Premiership. Picture: Craig Williamson/SNS

Always a difficult place to go and get a result that Court of Session. Hearts and Partick Thistle haven’t tended to win away from home a lot in recent times. Indeed, that’s partly why they are in this 
predicament in the first place.

Hearts and Thistle hoped to pick the forum where their complaint was heard. They have been 
frustrated on that front following yesterday’s decision to refer the dispute surrounding their relegation to an independent tribunal set up through SFA rules.

It is not the result either club wanted but they will take it – for now. Hearts’ Premiership flame flickers on, as does Thistle’s 
Championship one.

As for Dundee United, Raith Rovers and Cove Rangers, they know there’s some fretting to be done yet. The decision hardly helps United’s search for a manager since they do not yet know for sure what they need: one expert at getting teams promotion from the Championship or one more suited to the demands of Premiership survival.

Hearts and Thistle will take some succour from yesterday’s written judgement from Lord Clark, who seemed to question the validity of the severe threats 
to punish Hears and Thistle for taking their case to a civil court rather than keeping it within 
football, as per the SFA’s articles of association.

As Lord Clark writes: “In my opinion, questions may arise as to whether in that context a bar on raising legal proceedings without the permission of the board of the SFA, subjecting a club which does so to the potentially extreme 
sanctions mentioned by senior
counsel for the SPFL, can be viewed as contrary to public 
policy and hence unlawful.”

The possibility of both clubs being suspended from the game had been raised in court. Lord Clark has also ruled that the SPFL will have to disclose all documents relating to the case. The Dundee vote which has haunted these summer months has now come back into focus, as we always suspected it would. That return slip rejecting the SPFL’s resolution to curtail the leagues was sent at 4.48pm on 15 April.

Somehow it remains an issue in the first week of July. Dundee managing director John Nelms’ decision to reverse his decision – voting yes rather than no – and the willingness of the SPFL to let him do so continues to have ramifications. Everything could yet hinge on whether the correct procedure was followed.

Law and football – and indeed any sport – rarely make for 
suitable bedfellows, and so it has proved once again. We head, as was always suspected would 
happen, to Hampden, the home of Scottish football.

Hearts and Partick Thistle are now required to inform the SFA 
of the details of the dispute in 
writing.

Both parties in the dispute have 14 days to nominate an independent arbitrator to represent them selected from a Tribunal Candidate List. And then these arbitrators have another 14 days to appoint a chair of the arbitration panel. Clearly, things will be 
processed quicker than that; 28 days takes us past the scheduled start date for the new Premiership season.

The SFA’s only real part in the proceedings will be confirming the date of the hearing based on the availability of the arbitrators involved. It is likely to be sooner rather than later. No one will benefit from things dragging on any longer than they already have.

The proceedings will be confidential due to the nature of the Arbitration Scotland Act 2010 rather than any desire on the SFA’s part for the proceedings to be veiled in secrecy. In addition, those parties signing up for 
arbitration must accept that the arbitrators’ decision is final. Are we reaching the final furlong in this saga? It’s tempting to think so.

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