Today the Scottish press is overjoyed at an act of self-harm in French football.
The hacks who are writing, salivating, as a couple of clubs attempt to overturn the Ligue One decision to end the season and relegate sides think there are opportunities here.
There aren’t, and they should not lead delusional fans who want to believe in fairytales up the garden path in this way.
There is no salvation to be found here, only damnation and suffering for all who consider following this road to Hell.
The French clubs who have taken this action think they’ve saved themselves; I very much doubt that they have.
Football does not recognise the civil courts; how many times does this have to be spelled out? UEFA is going to demand that the French federation hammer these teams and the governing body in that country is going to have to do so.
Those insisting that Hearts should “take this all the way” know full well they are urging that club to a suicidal course of action.
They know that even if the SPFL does not have a cast iron case – and it does, as everyone knows full well – that there’s no happy ending here.
Hearts will play in the Championship come what may.
It’s how much additional punishment they want to bring down on themselves that will decide what state they are in as they contemplate that.
There is no winning here for Hearts, only degrees of losing.
The Scottish press can blindly ignore that as it sees fit, because they think if relegation is defeated then there might yet be a chance to overturn our ninth title with it, but the SPFL is on solid ground and everyone knows this. Pre-season training can resume, but football itself is still some ways off and that’s not coming from the league body but from the Scottish government who simply will not allow it.
There was no way for further football matches to be played, and the Sevco forums and the Hearts fans forums can rant and rave all they want and point the fingers at other leagues which have opted to re-start, but none of it stands up to scrutiny.
Yes, the EPL has decided to resume games … but the lower leagues know this is a bust and today League 1 and League 2 formally brought their seasons to a close on exactly the same basis as the SPFL has already, with relegation and promotion decided on average points. I don’t like the system, and probably no-one does, but it’s as close to fair as you’ll get.
Clubs who want to pursue these matters through the courts are damaging the sport, and this is why UEFA will simply not allow them to do it.
There are avenues within sport itself – CAS is the main one of them – and so there’s really no excuse for it, and especially not for what some involved at Hearts are threatening which is to seek ways of suspending the start of the next campaign if the courts somehow do come around to their way of thinking.
Ann Budge is dangerous to herself and her club.
I have said from the start that I believe anyone in Scottish football who’s talking about legal action here is bluffing … the thing is, I no longer think that’s true because she’s deluded enough to actually think she can pull this off, and so I reckon that Hearts are in a lot of trouble, and might well take this perilous course of action.
They will regret it if they do.
Let’s hope, with an act of pure self-destructing selfishness, they don’t make the rest of us regret it with them.
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