Celtic & Coronavirus and competitions!

Be lucky to see the season out tbh.

 

Scottish football could be weeks away from a “catastrophic” collapse after Boris Johnson revealed fans could be locked out of the game for the next six months.

The grave warning came from one senior top-flight figure as part of a special Record Sportprobe into the potentially ruinous ramifications of Tuesday’s raft of new coronavirus restrictions rubber-stamped simultaneously in both Westminster and Holyrood.


And we can reveal panic-stricken clubs from all over the country – and across all four divisions – now fear they could be forced to the wall unless they receive an emergency cash bailout from the Scottish government.

After announcing in the House of Commons the return of supporters could be put on hold until April 2021 the Prime Minister revealed talks over a crisis funding package will take place between England’s major sporting bodies and the Department for Culture Media and Sport.



But while England’s mega-rich Premier League chiefs are expected to be involved in the discussions, there are currently no such plans for Scotland’s clubs to be given similar assistance from the government in Edinburgh.

Attendance at Scottish football is a devolved matter so the final decision rests with Holrood but clubs believe First Minister Nicola Sturgeon is extremely unlikely to let fans back in before Westminster does.

And one Premiership chief executive told us: “This has been a very bleak day for the professional game in this country and the consequences will be catastrophic unless there is urgent government intervention



Six months without fans? Let’s be blunt, we don’t have six months. Clubs are going to go bust – a lot of them – and probably some of the biggest clubs we have. The next two months are going to be critical.



First, academies will have to be stopped, player development will have to be stopped and all community coaching programmes will have to be stopped.

“Then, after all of those cuts have been made, clubs will take it in turns to go to the wall.

“That’s the scenario our game is now facing. If there are no fans then there will need to be a government subsidy of some sort to replace lost revenues. If not then Scottish football as we know it will simply not survive.



Another prominent CEO added: “If we receive money from government then the games can go on and clubs will survive. If there is no money and no games then the club’s can’t survive.

“Scottish football cannot be expected to exist on thin air so urgent assistance will be required. It’s become increasingly clear to everyone in the game now supporters will not be back inside our grounds any time soon.”

Record Sport this week revealed concerns were already growing over the ability of the three lower leagues to kick off their campaigns on schedule on October 6 – with particular fears for the sustainability of clubs from League One and League Two.

But one Championship club told us: “The numbers are simply not going to stack up at this level either.


We’ve already been warned that we might be ordered to pay for Covid-19 testing before we get government approval to play matches. And now we could be looking at six months without any gate receipts. How can we be expected to pay player wages while covering the cost of that added testing when we have no match-day revenue?

“The Championship might start as planned next month but there’s no chance all 10 clubs will still be standing by the end of the season without additional funding of some kind.

“This could effectively kill the lower levels of the Scottish game and if that happens I don’t know if there will be any way back.


Record Sport understands there was an emergency meeting of the Joint Response Group late Tuesday afternoon to discuss developments both sides of the border as fears grow the Scottish game could be left behind.

One leading top-flight manager has spoken of his financial fears over Scottish football fans being locked out long-term.

Stephen Robinson is targeting a Euro run to offset the hardship that would follow should supporters remain on the outside.

And the Motherwell boss revealed the Lanarkshire club would already be toiling without Europa League
qualification and the combined £4.5million sales of Steelmen starlets James Scott and David Turnbull.

The Fir Park side fly out to Israel today for their third round qualifier against Hapoel Be’er Sheva with the incentive of a home play-off tie against Czech side Viktoria Plzen or Danish club SonderjyskE.

Clubs bank a minimum £2.5m for reaching the lucrative group stage of Europe’s second tier competition and Robinson would love to land a windfall like that.

It comes at a time when clubs fear fans won’t be back through the turnstiles any time soon with the First Minister tightening lockdown restrictions in the Covid-19 fight


Robbo said: “Europe has already brought money into the club going through two rounds and finishing third last season has helped tremendously.

“The longer we can stay in the competition the more beneficial it is to the club. No fans would be a bitter blow. Like every other football club, financially it’s going to be massive to us.

“We don’t have a big benefactor, we don’t have someone pumping millions of pounds into the club and without the sales of Scott and Turnbull this year we would be in trouble.

“If you add that to the third-place finish and the European run, that’s what’s probably keeping the club going. We need fans back as soon as possible as does every other club in the league.

“But in the context of the world and what’s going on there, we have to be governed by the First Minister and whatever decisions she makes.”

Robinson led Motherwell to two cup finals two years ago and, after coming through against Northern Irish sides Glentoran and Coleraine in the first two rounds, admitted the Be’er Sheva test will rank alongside them.



He said: “This will be up there with the two cup finals but the one thing missing is fans and without that the European occasions don’t seem quite the same. This one is a little different as we’re travelling further afield to a stadium you’re not used to so it has a different feel to it and it’s a pity fans aren’t there to enjoy it.

“Our motivation has to be to try to stay in the competition as long as possible to try to get people back in to enjoy them.”

 

Doesn't bare thinking about how all this is going to pan out. Anyone thinks even 6 months things will be starting to get back to normal are deluded. This is going to go in for a few years. This is going to be a global catastrophe and in a few years where all be saying what in the name of good * just happened. It's going to take a decade or more to recover from what's about to happen with the economy's and global markets. Football, especially in scotland is going to take a hit like nothing seen before, not even during wars times.

 

I've paid for 4 and have only watched two games . Just feels * watching them without fans there

 

I'm surprised this thread isn't busier - the fitba industry is genuinely facing ruin... and like every club, we are haemorrhaging funds at an alarming rate.

This is serious as *!

 

Tough choices and hard actions need to be made, and these need to be made in spite of so called "civil liberties".

Here in Vietnam they quite simply do not * around with Covid. If it pops up... Bang. Its shut down.

A pilot from Motherwell was almost single handedly responsible for Saigons biggest outbreak, getting off his flights and deciding to go boozing for St Paddy's Day at a place called Buddah Bar. If you were at that bar... Bang. Quarentine. Try to hide it. Bang. Cops and docs at your door. Including friends of mine.

After Covid cases were controlled the country reopened. After a couple of months a second outbreak was detected, rumoured (but not confirmed) to be from Chinese "boarder jumpers". Again, Vietnam put public welfare before the economy. The 2 HUGE tourists hubs of Da Nang and Hoi An were shut down, locked down and closed off. Flights buses and boats banned from entering or leaving, and a hardcore track and trace program was used... Have you been in Da Nang or Hoi An on these dates? Bang. Quarentine camp.

As well as this Vietnam went totally public. It didn't Molly coddle its citizens or play covid down for a second. Within a WEEK of the first outbreak a pop song, a public tracing app, and a very public apprehension scheme for illegal immigrants was employed. Fast food chains etc all had plastic barriers put up and social distancing markers. There were billboards everywhere within days offering both warnings and guidance. Public loudspeakers used every morning to remind people of what was expected of them.

Now all of this might seem Draconian to some but it * worked. I go on the western news site and see twats having MASS demos about the right not to wear * face masks and I'm utterly disgusted, seriously wishing someone would take a flame thrower to the lot if them. How * entitled do you have to be to say "it's my right to put public health at risk". ?

If hard choices are made earlier then it spares alot of pain down the road. The state of Victoria in Oz took similar measures and guess what? Its winning it battle now.

Football us going to keep suffering unless hard choices are made NOW. Holyrood needs to ignore Westminster and that utter * Boris and start aggressively fighting Covid, not trying to contain it. Go after it and stamp the * out. Shut down everything for a month, abandon this back to school crap, track trace and quarentine, and dish out severe punishments for aseholes who think Covid rules don't apply to them.

Do that, and all fans will be back in stadiums by November. Just like they are here.

Edit; it's all * lunacy to know I can basically fly back to UK or Ireland right now. I can book a flight, go home. And just have to stay home for 2 weeks. However, if I leave Vietnam I don't get back in. No flights are allowed in. Simples.

 

I don't think we will, if we can get to 33 I think we will be lucky but I imagine the SPFL will be aiming for 29 (76%) of games. @in the championship and below I think some clubs will hit admin by January with no fans in the stands.

 

Sport is * as a whole this * is going to kill the season before we even get to 20 games at this rate

 

If all the players can behave themselves and stay in their bubble we could get the season finished but I fear maybe one club or two clubs in the league could go into admin by march if the people are not allowed in .
Both cups could be scrapped as smaller clubs can't afford to give each player a test and can't see Celtic going on to the pitch against a side if the players haven't been tested .

 

Apparently they only need to test against premiership clubs. The SFA and SPFL should be contributing to that, at least with the semi pro teams. They really should have looked at making the league Cup knockout all the way through.

 

We're going to do the 10 without fans, even a reliable vaccine will take months to immunise the general population.

 

I thought that at the time regarding the League Cup, this season will be hard enough to to complete without extra games, has anyone looked at the winter and the constant weekend, midweek schedule, if that starts getting eaten into in terms of COVID or weather postponements then we are in trouble. I personally think there will be no 10 in a row unless it’s called early like last season and if I’m wrong it certainly won’t be in front of fans.

Worst still is the folk almost cheerleading all this, one Juniors forum I go on seems dominated by fairly young men practically complaining they are too scared to go to a field with about 60 others spread out to watch a game of football and decry those of us that want to go as kranks....the Internet is a dangerous tool for folk with way too little going on in their lives and little perspective of life away from their own

 

Never has a post got such a begrudging like from me...let’s hope you are wrong

 

I believe the last time I looked North Korea is out your way....Judging by your mindset I’m sure you would love it

 

How was the Pyongyang derby?

 

The Joint Response Group has held initial discussions on the implications for Scottish football of yesterday’s announcement that the return of supporters has been postponed and, consequently, that no further fan pilot events will be considered until the national outlook for Covid-19 improves significantly.

Significantly, the Minister for Public Health, Sport and Wellbeing, Joe FitzPatrick MSP, has confirmed to us that he has written to the UK Minister for Sport and Civil Society seeking urgent discussions regarding a package of financial recovery for sport, accessible to Scotland.

The Minister also expressed the gratitude of the Scottish Government for the efforts that Scottish football has made in playing its part in the national effort to tackle the pandemic.

The JRG would like to put on record our thanks to all clubs who have played their part by adhering to the strictest measures to combat Covid-19, despite the enormous financial toll it has inflicted on them.

The game in Scotland depends on ticket revenue far more than the vast majority of professional leagues across Europe. We usually see over five million supporters per season attending Scottish league matches - with 43% of all revenue generated via gate receipts. The prospect of that vital income being lost for the majority of the season - far less in its entirety - could be catastrophic for many of our clubs.

We are committed to working with government to avert that crisis.

Rod Petrie, Scottish FA President and chair of the JRG, said: “We understand the challenges and decisions facing the Scottish Government and society as a whole and Scottish football will continue to play its part in helping the country overcome the pandemic.

“It is also incumbent on us to safeguard the futures of our football clubs, whilst at the same time respecting and adhering to public health guidelines. We welcome the correspondence from Scottish Government to the UK Minister for Sport and Civil Society and hope for a positive outcome for the national game and Scottish sport as whole.”

Neil Doncaster, CEO of the SPFL, commented: “We are engaging with the Scottish Government to underline the existential threat to many of our clubs, and to the huge community, economic and sporting benefits they deliver, if this grave situation continues without meaningful public financial support. We therefore welcome the intervention of the Scottish Government in seeking urgent discussions with the UK Government about a package of financial recovery for Scottish sport.”

 

Doubt they will get a dime from Westminster

 

It really is devastating, don’t think I’m near half as arsed with our games at the moment. Watching them and talking about them but it’s just nothing like it was. Won’t be a fan in the stadium anytime this season and we will probably be doing well just to get this season finished, and if they do would they ever get the next one started? Like who’s gonna spend hundreds again next year if we still don’t know when it’ll be supporters will be allowed in.

 

My * where is this going to end up?! Not the depletion of the population only but on top of that sport as a whole. Christ all mighty.
Ok, am speaking aloud now, and being totally selfish I guess, but what if? What if so many clubs in Scotland and England, *, even Europe went to the wall? Where would that take the likes of Celtic and others who can survive this with the financial muscle? A European league of the fittest? Even here in Ireland I wonder how the GAA could even survive with no turnstiles. Had so hoped that we'd be through this by now, but after yesterday and another 6 months at least?! Try not shoot me lads as I say speaking aloud and with a few down the hatch at this stage, as 8m looking for that fecking light at the end that's not appearing and now I wonder will it.