LAST NIGHT we told you that the only reasonable conclusion that could be drawn from considering the UEFA instructions issued to all 55 national associations yesterday and then the comments by Scottish FA’s CEO Ian Maxwell is that this season’s Premiership is already over.
UEFA have set a deadline of 30 June to have all league matches completed and have advised that as they are cancelling the Euros until summer 2021 then the month of June should be used to complete the remaining fixtures if at all possible.
But whether the games are played or not each country will be expected to have their league season concluded by 30 June and not a day longer.
The Scotland v Israel game, which had sold out, has also to be played in June – according to the hugely optimistic instructions from UEFA – while the Scottish Cup semi-finals and Final are now officially postponed and will take place early next season, we we are looking at August or September for these three games to happen.
Maxwell accepted that Neil Doncaster at the SPFL has a difficult decision on his hands regarding what to do if the league fixtures cannot be concluded by 30 June. Here’s what Ian Maxwell, the Scottish FA ‘s Chief Executive was saying to BBC Sportsound last night, as reported by BBC Scotland.
CONFIRMATION THAT SCOTTISH CUP IS POSTPONED
“At this juncture it is also important to confirm that the William Hill Scottish Cup semi-final ties between Heart of Midlothian and Hibernian, and Celtic and Aberdeen, will not be played on the original dates – 11 and 12 April – nor will the final be played on 9 May.
“Given the fast-moving nature of this unprecedented situation, and the imperative to safeguard public health, we will consider future dates for the cup ties when the situation becomes clearer.
“We are, however, committed to completing the competition at the appropriate time, in front of spectators, and will base any decision on government and UK Medical Officers advice, and the readiness of the participants to complete the ties.”
CONFIRMATION THAT SCOTLAND V ISRAEL EURO QUALIFIER IS POSTPONED
“As well as the agreement to postpone EURO 2020 until next year, we also received indications that our UEFA Nations League Play-Off semi-final against Israel at Hampden Park, due to be played on 26 March, is now scheduled to take place in early June, with no date as yet confirmed.
“While we await more specific information from UEFA in relation to the fixture, there is a limit to how we prepare for a June match in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the most recent government and UK Chief Medical Officers advice.
“I would like to reassure all Scotland fans who have purchased either tickets or hospitality packages for the match against Israel that those tickets will still be valid for the rescheduled fixture, when the date is confirmed. If supporters are unable to attend the rescheduled fixture then the face value of their tickets and packages will be refunded. Further information on tickets will be communicated to existing buyers in early course.
CONFIRMATION THAT THIS GAME BEING PLAYED IN JUNE IS UNREALISTIC
“Whether it’s July, August, September, those dates don’t seem unrealistic at this moment in time,” Maxwell said.
“For us to be able to play an international window in late May or early June we’d be looking at football starting again in May, and as we’re in the middle of March I don’t see how that’s possible.”
CONFIRMATION THAT ALL OTHER GAMES REMAIN SUSPENDED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE
“We also await further information from the UEFA Working Group on the next steps for all other club and international fixtures which have been suspended until further notice, including Scotland Women’s National Team and national youth teams.”
CONFIRMATION THAT THE REMAINING DOMESTIC GAMES BEING PLAYED IN JUNE IS UNREALISTIC
“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.”
AND WHILE MAXWELL would not be drawn on the challenges that this will present to Neil Doncaster and the SPFL Board, which of course includes Stewart Robertson from the Rangers, he did accept that it was going to be difficult for them, amid of course frantic calls from the BBC pundits to construct any argument possible for not naming Celtic as Champions, one even saying that Celtic ‘could do the right thing’ and give up their claim to be Champions.
Read our article from last night and note the remarkable co-incidence that top sports QC Nick de Marco was sitting reading The Celtic Star the other evening. He the the Barrister that Celtic engaged to defend Scott Brown against those ludicrous charges of not acting in the best interests of Association Football after he celebrated our win over the Rangers at the end of March last year.
We reckon Nick de Marco was getting himself up to speed with what’s going on as Celtic prepare themselves to fight for our Title.
Podcast: Reaction to Uefa's decision to postpone @EURO2020 and how this will affect @ScotlandNT: https://t.co/mywSplMgch
— BBC Sportsound (@BBCSportsound) March 17, 2020
Maxwell reveals June football highly unlikely, so season is done. Now it's a fight for 9IAR | The Celtic Star https://t.co/Um4zxkLS1z
— The Celtic Star Editor (@CelticStarMag) March 17, 2020
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