A SENIOR CELTIC source, responding to our enquiry today after we forwarded on the article about Sports Barrister Nick de Marco’s guarded comments on the Null and Void agenda that is being pushed by Ibrox opportunists who had their chance to win all three domestic honours this season and failed comprehensively in each one – as usual, gave us a short but telling reply.
“I can’t see it being void,” was the short message from inside the club. That is re-assuring but obviously lobbying with continue and will intensify as this horrible pandemic health crisis continues.
There’s also a story doing the rounds right now that may have you thinking the null and void argument is very much on the table when it comes to Uefa’s plans to conclude season 2019-2020. It would be enough at first glance, given the way it’s been reported, to give Celtic and Liverpool fans cause for concern.
It is being reported this afternoon that UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin has confirmed neither Celtic nor Liverpool will be automatically crowned Champions of their respective divisions if leagues are forcibly cancelled due to the Coronavirus outbreak, however dig a little deeper and the news about fake news is, well, fake news.
Speaking to a group of journalists, via SportBible, Ceferin said:
“I’ve saw (sic) and heard some again fake news that Uefa will advise leagues to finish the championships now and decide that the winners are the ones who are number one now.
“I can say that it’s not true. Our goal is to finish the leagues and we didn’t recommend anything like that to any association or any league.”
As such some sites are reporting this story as meaning Celtic and Liverpool may NOT be awarded titles. Let’s be clear Ceferin is saying no such thing.
To be transparent on just that point, UEFA’s stance, as Ceferin is simply enforcing, is that all leagues have been given until 30 June to finish their leagues. UEFA have given no further recommendations as to how things may proceed after that date has passed. Whether that be null and void seasons or awarding titles on current league standings, UEFA are not making any recommendations either way.
Ceferin was simply pointing out, that to say UEFA had given clubs like Celtic or Liverpool reassurances that they would be awarded the league titles should the leagues not be completed by that day is fake news. Not that after the 30 June and in the absence of a completed season, that the subject will not be revisited and certainly not that Celtic will not be awarded the league title.
UEFA yesterday and now Ceferin today, has simply reiterated that the preferred solution is to find a way for football matches to decide the course of league titles, European places and of course relegation issues.
Such an outcome is what we all want, Celtic fans included. It would be much sweeter to fulfil our fixture list, win nine in a row after 38 games completed and go on to win a quadruple treble by winning the Scottish Cup final in front of a full house at Hampden, oh and get to celebrate it with the players and fellow supporters.
As we’ve pointed out on The Celtic Star, it is our opinion and also that of Ian Maxwell the CEO of the Scottish FA that the deadline for fixture completion is unlikely to be met. Here’s’ what Ian Maxwell had to say when speaking to BBC Scotland last night:
“I think it’s unrealistic, even you do the simple maths in terms of wanting clubs to release their assets, their top players to the national team, having not played a game- it is not going to happen realistically.
“They’ll need to have played a bit of football by that point.”
In an ideal world restrictions around the coronavirus will be lifted in time to complete this season, however 30 June seems unrealistic and if so a way to end the season fairly, in the absence of games being played, needs to be found.
The fair way to do that is to award those in pole position after three quarters of the football season being played the league titles they have earned. Please be certain Aleksander Ceferin and UEFA are giving no opinion on that matter either way.
Niall J
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