Daily Express - Why was the Scottish Premiership called so early when so many questions still remain?

mdingwall

Administrator
Daily Express article.

 
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The spfl pretty much made a play to call the league as soon as the possibly could - pretty much since celtic organised their press conference to stake their claim - meanwhile the sfa say they are determined to play the season 2019 / 20 Scottish cup to completion even if they have to wait until 2021 - go figure
 
The spfl pretty much made a play to call the league as soon as the possibly could - pretty much since celtic organised their press conference to stake their claim - meanwhile the sfa say they are determined to play the season 2019 / 20 Scottish cup to completion even if they have to wait until 2021 - go figure

End the League season early to guarantee that mob the title and CL money, but continue with the Scottish Cup. Corrupt to the core.
 
The “finish the Scottish cup at all costs” attitude whilst so hastily ending the country's main tournament pretty much sums up Scottish football and who it is run for.

It absolutely beggars belief that certain idiots at other clubs and within the media still can’t see it for what it is.
 
You should. Stop giving them hits, but I will allow you this time a by, as its a good article.

For the clarification of those who are confused.

We prefer that the source is given and if the poster can't cut and paste a wee synopsis is given.

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Daily Express article.


How refreshing would it have been if the headline had been :

"Why there was such a rush to end the SPFL season"

...and the following article going on to detail exactly why it was.
However, in the absence of any Scottish mhedia men with a set of balls that is not going to happen.
The dugs in the street know why it was called early but the mhedia continue to fanny around acting daft.
 
UEFA have already signed off the short term extension of contracts that were due to expire, which was seen as the greatest obstacle to that, other than the TV and sponsorship deals.

Am i reading this wrongly,what have Uefa got to do with players contracts?
 
Daily Express article.


A question answered by the 1st sentence
 
The fact that the Germans have restarted and Denmark are going to follow suit only shines that light of corruption back on the SPFL.

All we need are a few more countries with around the same amount of games or more left in their season to back up the arguement.

Unfortunately , the rest of the corrupt Scottish clubs have sold their souls and turned their back on the truth.
 
Still can't get my head around this. And the silence from Rangers isn't helping

I’d completely switched off to Scottish football recently as I tried to make sure my family and business will be safe. They will be now.

So, have I clearly missed this. We surely didn’t vote to end the season did we? That can’t be right? Unless it happened months ago when we were hoping to have the season null and voided ?
 
For those who prefer a copy and paste, for whatever reason, I will help out.

In 2 parts. Part One:


Scottish football has been through the mill over the past three months with in-fighting, claims of bullying and corruption, votes being lost and then reappearing, threats of legal challenges and explosive statements replacing the action on the field. It has been a sour way to end a season that promised so much as Celtic hunted down a record-equalling ninth title in a row, and Rangers, at times, gave a very real challenge to stopping it.

Now though there is some kind of clarity with the season being called, but the picture is still very much blurred.

The coronavirus pandemic could not have been predicted, and while the whole world is engulfed in the ensuing crisis there is an acceptance that things are clearly not business as usual, but there are still questions to answer over several of the steps that have led us to this conclusion.

The SPFL ended the season on Monday with a statement claiming that Premiership clubs had reached a ‘unanimous agreement that the top flight cannot be finished’.

However the unanimous part of that statement is understood to be factually incorrect. At least two clubs were against curtailing the season and saw no reason why a decision needed to be rushed through so soon.

With the Premier League in England hoping to return under Project Restart, the SPFL adopted a different approach - ‘Project No Start’.

There were understandable fears over clubs surviving without the prize money they were due from finishing the season if it needed to be extended into the summer and beyond, and the call to end the season was, at least publicly, aimed at sending out money to those different clubs. However there are still issues with that and how the SPFL will get the money should BT Sport and other sponsors call on payments of around £10m to be held back due to the season being prematurely ended. That marks part of the issue raised by Rangers, who say that wasn’t made clear to clubs before the voting began. Rangers also offered an alternative resolution where clubs would receive money now to help them see out the season.

The SPFL’s legal advisor Rod McKenzie deemed that an ‘incompetent’ way to operate and the SPFL themselves claim clubs were aware of the potential for the broadcasters and sponsors to ask for money back, and proceeded to call the season this week in spite of the problems still bubbling over.

“I don’t think there was much of a decision to be made,” Neil Doncaster, SPFL chief executive, said in an interview on Sky Sports on Wednesday.

“It was clear to all and sundry that with the government restrictions we have in place in Scotland, and with the start of the new season coming up in the beginning of August that there just wasn’t the time to get the remaining fixtures played.”

That decision was made despite it emerging on Thursday that Scottish clubs hope to be back in training by June 10 in time for the new season to start in August, with the likelihood that next season will be started behind closed doors.

So why was next season given priority over this season? Other leagues in Europe have adopted different approaches. France called their league with elite sport banned in the country until September and handed PSG the title, as well as relegating the clubs at the bottom. Holland meanwhile decided against giving out a title and relegation, instead nominating teams for European competitions and sparking legal battles from those in the second tier.

The Bundesliga in Germany restarted last weekend, while England continue to play the waiting game and have stepped up phase one of a return to training.

In Italy Serie A have set a deadline of August 20 to get this season complete, and hope to start next season in September.

Football in Scotland, like in France, has been banned by Nicola Sturgeon, but only until June rather than September, so why the rush and clamour to end the season now particularly when any restart this side of next January looks set to see clubs playing in empty stadiums and biting the financial bullet on ticket sales?

There is certainly no perfect answer and no one size fits all in these situations across Europe. That is why UEFA have allowed each individual FA to make their own mind up on how to finish the season. All they require is nominations to their events - based on ‘sporting integrity’.

The conspiracy theorists are out, of course. Celtic are now champions for a ninth season in row. They were well ahead and Steven Gerrard had all but admitted a title race was over despite having two games to play against Celtic and another in hand, which could feasibly have seen the gap cut to just four points.

But fans of the Ibrox side will now call it the asterisk season. They’ll say it was won in the boardroom, rather than on the pitch. They’ll say it was Peter Lawwell and his influence over the likes of Doncaster, Murdoch MacLennan and those at the top of the Scottish game, rather than by Scott Brown, Odsonne Edouard and co.

And Celtic will now go for the record of 10 in a row on the watch of Sky Sports, who take up the broadcasting rights with a sparkly new deal to replace BT from next season and could even become the new sponsor of the league, with one still to be found by Doncaster and co.

On the decision to end the season this week SPFL chairman MacLennan said: “Firstly, I would like to take this opportunity to officially congratulate Celtic on their achievement of winning the Ladbrokes Premiership this season, and also to sincerely commiserate with Hearts on their relegation.

“We would all have rather seen the league season played out on pitches, in stadiums and in front of supporters. This is not the way anybody involved with Scottish football would have wanted to conclude the league season but, given the grave and unprecedented circumstances that we are facing, the Board has agreed that it is the only practical way forward.

“Covid-19 has wreaked havoc on sporting competitions around the world and the repercussions will be felt for a long time. Scottish Government restrictions and deep concerns for both player and spectator safety left the SPFL with no realistic option but to call the Ladbrokes Premiership now and we thank the Premiership clubs for their support on this decision.”

Fans of Hearts, and indeed the club themselves, maintain that the decision to curtail the campaign under these conditions is unfair. They are still hoping for a reconstruction of the leagues, but it’s widely accepted that that is now very unlikely to pass.

“As previously intimated the club has been taking legal advice throughout this process and are continuing to do so,” a statement read.

“We hope that the resolution being prepared will avoid the need to go down this route. Legal action would be both time consuming and expensive. However the cost to the club of relegation would outweigh these considerations.

“To our supporters, we thank you for showing patience and continuing to back the club. We will continue to fight against what we believe is an unjust outcome.”

MacLennan’s connections with Celtic and Dermot Desmond are well documented. Rangers have sought to clarify the ‘ah cannae stand the b******s’ comment several times with a denial.
 
Part 2

The disputes between Rangers and the SPFL have been painted as Rangers trying to dislodge members at the top of the game, or to have a pop back after the demotion to the bottom of the Scottish game in 2012.

And while there is something in that, they certainly want change at the top of the game, it’s clear that the allies Rangers have picked up in the dispute would not stand alongside them in normal circumstances. Aberdeen for one are no friends of the Ibrox club. What have Hearts, Inverness Caledonian Thistle, Partick Thistle, Falkirk, Stranraer, Stenhousemuir, Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts got to gain with a seeming allegiance with Rangers and a battle with the top dogs of the game?

This leads to the point of Rangers asking for an independent investigation into the governance of the game, and their ‘dossier’ which was knocked into touch.

Surely in any other walk of life or industry an accusation similar to what was brought to the SFPL would have resulted in an independent hearing, so why hasn’t it in this case?

The SPFL insist there is no case to answer. Lawwel called it ‘an absolute embarrassment’. But clearly questions remain. Why were Dundee allowed to change their vote (as the leaked WhatsApp messages show to be true), were clubs aware there may be issues with the prize money even after ending the season, and what is next for Scottish football?

Former Celtic manager John Barnes labelled the rushed decision ‘ridiculous’.

“It’s ridiculous. It's unfair,” he told Bonuscodebets.

“There are eight games to go and Hearts are four points from safety, and they can come back up.

“I don't understand. With eight games to go, whenever they're going to play the next season then just finish the eight games and continue to the next season.

“I don't see why they have to make a decision now to stop the season because stopping the season now isn't going to make them play the next season any quicker.

“But next season will come whenever it comes. So, what I'm saying is that whenever that comes, just take six weeks off to play eight games, and then go straight into the next season.”

It’s still unclear if the Scottish Premiership will be allowed to kick off in early August due to the restrictions in place to tackle the virus, but that’s the hope. UEFA have opened the door for leagues to start while others are still playing the previous season, and insist European games won’t get in the way of that as well. Rangers for example have a second leg with Bayer Leverkusen to play in the Europa League.

After releasing six players on Tuesday who were out of contract it’s not clear what kind of squad they would have for a game still technically in the 2019/20 season. It’s also uncertain what shirts they would wear, having signed a new deal with Castore to replace Hummel. UEFA say they will deal with those issues nearer the time and won’t rush anything.

Those points are less important than the long-term survival of less financially stable clubs, particualarly with Rangers being 3-1 down after the home leg anyway, but they remain unanswered nevertheless.

UEFA have set Monday 25 May as the date for all leagues to map out their futures, but have also intimated there is flexibility in that.

Doncaster, though, confirmed the decision in Scotland a week earlier. He hopes to kick off the brave new world under the Sky contract in the first week of August, but why then could’t they have waited until then to get this season complete, and maintain the ‘sporting integrity’ that everybody so craves?

UEFA have already signed off the short term extension of contracts that were due to expire, which was seen as the greatest obstacle to that, other than the TV and sponsorship deals. They have also confirmed the Champions League and Europa League ties will be played out in August if safe to do so, making it complicated, although not impossible, for domestic leagues in Europe to try and start before those competitions are finished.

The broadcasting issue in Scotland in an interesting one, with the BT deal expiring in favour of the new long-term Sky Sports one. Would Sky have allowed BT to show games beyond August if it meant completing the season, and would BT have been able or even want to? It’s not as if BT would have had Celtic or Rangers on each week, would they have been willing to send TV crews and producers for the middle rung games they would have been due some weeks?

They remain silent on the issue, still waiting to make their decision on the recalling of money they could be owed.

Despite the concerns of what broadcasters will do if they don’t fill their allocations of games Premier League members in England first discussed the potential for not finishing the season on Monday 12 May, after weeks of talks on how they could try and get games played again.

While in Scotland ballot papers had been drawn up and plans were in the works as early as March. That would seem pretty early in the grand scheme of things to be working on an end game like this.

Neil Lennon was presented with the Scottish Premiership trophy on Monday live on Sky Sports and claimed this was his greatest ever title, despite getting it without actually getting over the finish line and having to celebrate with his team over a Zoom call.

Whether or not they were worthy winners is a different debate, but regardless there must be a tinge of regret at not finishing it off outright and on the pitch, as they have the previous eight years, that in itself makes this one different, whether that’s with an asterisk or not.
 
How refreshing would it have been if the headline had been :

"Why there was such a rush to end the SPFL season"

...and the following article going on to detail exactly why it was.
However, in the absence of any Scottish mhedia men with a set of balls that is not going to happen.
The dugs in the street know why it was called early but the mhedia continue to fanny around acting daft.

Write an article and we'll share it
 
I want to know before anything why Rangers voted to end it.
I’ve constantly backed the board. However their silence on this, selling Albion car park and season tickets doesn’t put them in a good light.
Hope they haven’t just complained about the SPFL board to get season ticket numbers up and we genuinely see getting rid of they 3 board members to the end.
Although McKenzie will probably do us a favour and die before then as he’ll not have long left. McDonald’s and that will be opening again soon.
 
It's not sitting well with the support that's for sure.
As I understand it, the unanimous vote was for the season not being able to be completed. Rangers agreed to this....a 12-0 vote. Rangers did not agree to them being handed the title...an 11-1 vote. SPFL are playing word games here and trying to obfuscate the facts to suit their own agenda. Rest assured we did not vote to hand them the title.

Of course I could be wrong...feel free to correct if necessary.
 
I want to know before anything why Rangers voted to end it.
What option did they have, the league was always going to be ended but now we will forever have that over them. “Won 9 in a row did you? Well not really you won 8 and a bit”.

If the league was played out they would have won it this way it can never be in doubt.

Now we have raised our concerns it’s over to others to examine and pick holes in
 
What option did they have, the league was always going to be ended but now we will forever have that over them. “Won 9 in a row did you? Well not really you won 8 and a bit”.

If the league was played out they would have won it this way it can never be in doubt.

Now we have raised our concerns it’s over to others to examine and pick holes in
Plus they know they haven’t won it
 
For the clarification of those who are confused.

We prefer that the source is given and if the poster can't cut and paste a wee synopsis is given.

If it is cut and pasted that's up to the user - if the article is on a source of by a journalist you think is worth supporting you give them the hits - on a personal basis for the writer.

Users who lose their shit making up rules and cajoling other users find themselves sinbinned or banned.
Could you not have them tied to posts and executed with North Korean artillery field guns ?
 
As I understand it, the unanimous vote was for the season not being able to be completed. Rangers agreed to this....a 12-0 vote. Rangers did not agree to them being handed the title...an 11-1 vote. SPFL are playing word games here and trying to obfuscate the facts to suit their own agenda. Rest assured we did not vote to hand them the title.

Of course I could be wrong...feel free to correct if necessary.

You are, a little, wrong. The unanimous vote they refer to was the FRIDAY vote by top flight clubs to recognise that the season could not be played out by that stage. Nothing more. Obviously in that vote Hearts were not voting to relegate themselves! The vote was meaningless in reality anyway. The Good Friday vote had already given the SPFL Board the authority to call the top flight any old time they liked. They didn't need to refer to, nor take any heed of, the vote by the top flight clubs.

It was the SPFL Board meeting the following MONDAY that gifted the title to the Dhims. We don't know how the vote in that meeting went. If I was guessing, I'd say it went 8-1 in line with most other SPFL Board votes in recent months.
 
Cheers. Enjoyed reading that! Refused to read anything this week in the frenzied how great the filth are.
 
"The SPFL ended the season on Monday with a statement claiming that Premiership clubs had reached a ‘unanimous agreement that the top flight cannot be finished’.

However the unanimous part of that statement is understood to be factually incorrect. At least two clubs were against curtailing the season and saw no reason why a decision needed to be rushed through so soon."


Another lie from the SPFL then.
 
You are, a little, wrong. The unanimous vote they refer to was the FRIDAY vote by top flight clubs to recognise that the season could not be played out by that stage. Nothing more. Obviously in that vote Hearts were not voting to relegate themselves! The vote was meaningless in reality anyway. The Good Friday vote had already given the SPFL Board the authority to call the top flight any old time they liked. They didn't need to refer to, nor take any heed of, the vote by the top flight clubs.

It was the SPFL Board meeting the following MONDAY that gifted the title to the Dhims. We don't know how the vote in that meeting went. If I was guessing, I'd say it went 8-1 in line with most other SPFL Board votes in recent months.
Spot on, though doubt bookies would have given you odds on it.
 
At last a decent article representative of true journalism. Sadly, it's the only one and sadly it's probably come too late. This is the type of article we should've been seeing in many different media outlets over that last 4 or more weeks. Probably more when you consider that within days of the football being stopped the campaign to give them the title had already started.
 
Sorry if this has been answered before (as I'm sure it must've been) - but I've never understood this. What was the reason given for having to declare champions and relegation instead of null and void ? Was it something to do with the TV deal ? If so, what (is it some confidential clause that we're not allowed to know) ?
 
Good article that asks pertinent questions.

More of those were required weeks ago but anything that shines a light on the corrupt cabal is welcome.

I reckon Doncaster & Co. will have more missteps in the next few weeks. There is certainly plenty of scope for it and I don't think they will be as sure footed as they'll need to be navigating the quagmire they have created for themselves. Douglas Park will be keeping a very close eye on what unfolds, no doubt.
 
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