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Scottish Football’s “Governing Bodies” Are Desperate To Pass The Buck Over Our Title.

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Scottish football has no leaders at the present time. We know this. It is a fact. We’ve known it for a while now. The idea that we have something called “governance” and that it works in the game here is frankly ridiculous. The people who run our game are a joke.

Since this crisis began, we’ve been looking for direction from them, and it is as absent now as it has been from the start. The men who run football in Scotland know two things; they know that not another ball will be kicked in this campaign, and they know what that means.

It’s in the rulebook, in black and white. It is there for all to see.

But these cowardly men do not want to take the decision. They know that sooner or later it will have to be implemented or the whole of the game here is going to swirl down the toilet, but none seems willing to grasp the nettle.

Instead they wait. They wait for someone else to take the matter out of their hands, and to spare them the firestorm of criticism that will be coming from Celtic’s enemies.

First they waited for UEFA, hoping that the global governing body would give them a steer, pointing the way and declaring a solution which would apply to every league across the game. But UEFA was not going to do that, although in my view they should have.

There are no real leaders up there either, just men paralysed by this situation.

Look at how long it took them to make a decision on their own competitions.

UEFA passed the buck right back to the national associations. Still the SFA and the SPFL dithered, not wanting to make a decision. And they waited.

Their next hope was that the government would step in, an idea even more ridiculous than the possibility that UEFA might.

In Westminster, Boris Johnson wanted to infect 60% of the country, at a mammoth cost in deaths and sickness, only to be talked out of it. He told people a month ago that all they had to do was wash their hands, until the casualty figures climbed and the social cost with it.

Our European partners say the lockdown – and even it still looks like a shameful fudge, with more holes in it than Swiss Cheese – came later than it ought to have.

The Scottish government wants nowhere near this, for obvious reasons. I don’t even think they could command an end to the football season if they wanted to; it is up to the governing bodies to look at the current state of the nation and make the right call.

Having failed to get the government to do it, the SPFL and SFA have pivoted right back to their initial hope, that UEFA might do the job for them with some kind of declaration. It will not be forthcoming in time to stop clubs bleeding out if they aren’t paid something in terms of prize money soon.

The need is acute. Hearts are already cutting.

Others are considering their options already, and those options are not good ones for football.

The sport is in real crisis here, and as we’re finding out in our political sphere this is the very worst time to have yes men, self-promoters, charlatans and riders on the gravy train in charge. It is readily apparent that they should grab this moment and make a decision.

It is equally clear what the decision should be; the one that’s in the rulebook.

That they haven’t yet is frankly ridiculous.

The clock is ticking and the range of options is not going to get bigger.

It’s time this was done.

As Scottish football goes through the current crisis it is important to keep up with developments and the key issues. We are determined to do so, and to keep you informed as well. Please subscribe to the blog.

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