The SPFL have been given the green light to proceed with the inevitable crowning of Celtic as Scottish Premiership champions following the Belgian Pro League’s decision to declare their season over and award Club Brugge the title.
The Daily Record reports on the first league in UEFA’s jurisdiction to make such a decision although the governing body’s stance remains that all leagues should look to complete their fixtures for the 2019/20 season and re-iterated this stance in a letter to every member organisation following the Belgian league’s move.
“Since participation in UEFA club competitions is determined by the sporting result achieved at the end of a full domestic competition, a premature termination would cast doubts about the fulfillment of such condition.”
In Belgium, as it is in Scotland, relegation appears to be the biggest stumbling block as they have yet to decide how to resolve the issue that has the greater financial implications, although the league has self determined the European places, UEFA’s statement appears to suggest that it might not be this simple and strongly advised against following their lead.
For perspective, Brugge were 15 points clear at the top of their league with one game left to go before the end of the regular season, in a similar system to the Premiership in Scotland they were supposed to split to determine the overall winners of the championship with the top teams playing against each other but this has now been cancelled.
Despite “sporting integrity” being at the forefront of any discussions, the increasingly repetitive calls for Celtic to be awarded the title – without any further fixtures – has become an embarrassment for Scottish football.
Roger Mitchell, the former chief of the SPL, is the latest to make the claim that it is the right thing to do despite there still being over 20% of the season still to play and perhaps more importantly, two Old Firm fixtures.
What do you think the SPFL will do?
Cancel season and award Celtic the title.
Declare season null and void.
Complete the season behind closed doors in July/August.
There now appear to be two potential outcomes for football across Europe; declare the current standings as they are, or complete the fixtures when it is safe to do so with the very real possibility of games being played behind closed doors.
Rangers fans can’t lose, at 13 points behind it would take a Helicopter Sunday-like miracle to win the league, however, if Celtic are “given” the league, 2019/20 will always be marked with an asterisk, similar to the multiple trophies that the Ibrox side won during the war years but don’t count towards their numbers, with the SPFL expected to meet this week, things are about to get very interesting in Scottish football.