Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson has called for the Scottish Premiership season to be declared over
Tuesday 5 May 2020 20:23, UK
Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack accepts the Scottish Premiership season looks finished, while Motherwell boss Stephen Robinson has called for its conclusion.
United States-based businessman Cormack recently wrote to his Premiership counterparts urging them to examine ways of completing this season but he now accepts that aim is looking a forlorn task.
Clubs recently voted to end the lower leagues and hand the Scottish Professional Football League board the authority to call time on the top flight but arguments over the process have continued.
Cormack told Red TV: "The key priority isn't necessarily if we finish 19/20, which is looking more unlikely as the days go by, but is really how do we get back to playing football safely and as quickly as we can?
"And if it's going to be behind closed doors, what does that look like from a safety standpoint and the cost of that plus from a commercial standpoint if more games are going to be watched on television?
"That's where the different groups are focused right now.
"We had a call with 13 clubs, the 12 existing clubs in the Premiership plus Dundee United, and the message was absolutely clear from every club: let's focus on what we need to do to get a plan together to work cohesively with the Scottish Government in order to get this plan in place.
"Obviously things are moving in England and Germany and elsewhere but the interesting stuff for us is, for example, if they are playing football or training in Carlisle, Newcastle, Middlesbrough and Sunderland, which is closer to Glasgow than Aberdeen is, and we are not doing it in Scotland.
"We all think it's important that this Joint Response Group gets moving and there is a meeting with the Scottish Government on this."
Motherwell manager Stephen Robinson has called for the Scottish Premiership season to be declared over so the game can address the huge challenge of preparing to return next term.
When asked about continuing the season, Robinson told PLZ Soccer: "I have not heard one feasible argument for it yet in Scotland. We don't have the money that England do - the testing regime, putting players in hotels, maybe using St George's Park. That's not feasible for Scotland.
"I hear people complaining about things. Well, nobody has come up with the ideas or the solutions yet. So, for me, we have to get our heads round that it will be very difficult to finish this season.
"So, make a decision and then try to concentrate on how we get out of this situation in terms of next season. What do we do if we get the ability to get some crowds in, or how do we work it with TV? All that needs to be discussed.
"The football brains and football people, of which there are many good people in Scotland, now maybe need to accept the inevitable and try to make the future the best we can and a little bit brighter."
