Billy Brown says that Scottish managers will oppose plans to end the season as it stands with promotion and relegation issues decided by positions on March 13.
The former Hearts and Hibs assistant boss is the chairman of the Scottish League Managers Association looking after the interests of managers and coaches in the Scottish game.
The UK Government is expected to announce this week that the current football seasons in Scotland and England won’t resume leaving the current positions as the final places.
There has been talk of resuming the leagues in future or declaring the season null and void but with a shutdown of at least three months expected it looks likely that a new season will begin when football gets the all-clear.
Announcing that the season is over will allow the SPFL to pay out prize money which is a lifeline for clubs but there is bound to be a challenge from clubs that find themselves relegated based on their position in mid-March.
Brown told The Sun:
My opinion is that would be unfair and I would have thought the majority of managers would be against that plan. I think it will be an unpopular idea and the wrong decision. The season needs to be finished.
Granted, Celtic will win the league, but Hearts are only four points adrift with eight games left. This isn’t a personal thing because I worked there, but how can you relegate a team who could have survived?
Dundee United are likely to win promotion, but what about the teams below them still vying for promotion? And the teams that would have real financial problems if they are relegated?
I don’t blame, for example, Neil Lennon calling for Celtic to get the title. But they’ll win it regardless and there are a lot of other issues to be taken into consideration.
Do we kick Brechin out of the SPFL and threaten their survival? I’ll talk to managers this week and the consensus will become clearer.
Completing the season would be the preferred solution but with many contracts running out in May and June some teams would look vastly different by the time September or whenever comes around.
One possible solution would be to ban relegation with two teams promoted to each league with the leading team in the Highland and Lowland League joining League Two.
A 14 team SPFL Premiership wouldn’t be ideal but if the Nations League is ditched it will free up six match days in September, October and November to use for league matches.
