Alison McConnell: Clubs' rift with SPFL will linger long after lockdown

It is wishful thinking to contemplate a time when the focus returns to whatever dramas are played out on the park rather than in video conference calls.

But the circus that has surrounded Scottish football since the pause button was hit in the middle of March has given way to a pantomime, complete with its own cast of heroes and villains.

And the noise it has generated will echo long after the focus on the current crisis has moved on.

Any of us who have a social media account will have first-hand experience of how ridiculously unsavoury things can get when there is a difference of opinion voiced in the virtual stratosphere.

So much is boiled down to tribal allegiances rather than an ability to appreciate the bigger picture.

So these past few weeks, while so many of the headlines have revolved around a Rangers dossier that apparently contains evidence of wrongdoing with regards to the SPFL’s April vote, the bottom line is that it is hard to shake the feeling that last week’s Deloitte investigation left the impression of a large tub of whitewash being tipped out at Hampden.

Until anyone knows what Rangers’ evidence consists of, it is impossible to make a call on whether there ought to be an independent investigation.

If the accusations are deemed valid then a fit and proper look at what exactly happened on the evening of April 10 is the only genuine course of action that can be taken.

If the evidence is flimsy and scant and has been built up to be more substantial than it actually is, then Rangers have to accept the consequences of that, just as Neil Doncaster will have to accept it should it turn out that the Ibrox club have not overplayed their hand.

But until anyone knows what that amounts to, it is an impossible call to make with conclusions largely drawn along which club colours one sports. Which is how we got to this position.

The cynics among us will conclude that Rangers’ insistence in the first place that the league was not called as it currently stands was a convenient deflection from a proper analysis of what has transpired at the club since January.

A team that looked capable of taking the title to the wire collapsed following the winter break. Gerrard’s side went out of the Scottish Cup to Hearts to realistically end their chances of winning any silverware this season; at the press conference before kick-off, Gerrard himself had acknowledged that the game was the last opportunity to end the season with a trophy.

By the time the season went into lockdown, Rangers were 13 points behind Celtic with a game in hand and two meeting between the teams still to be played. It is worth noting that Lennon’s side had dropped only two league points since their defeat to Rangers in December.

There was scant evidence to indicate that the Ibrox side were capable of piecing together a run that would have put Celtic under pressure in the latter stages of the campaign.

That it is galling not to be given the opportunity to do so is without question. But talk of asterisks titles can’t really be mustered with a straight face by anyone in the Ibrox camp.

And the bile which has followed over these last few months will not dissipate when football is back up and running. The ill-feeling and suspicion will long linger, while the lack of trust in the SPFL cannot have gone unnoticed.

The long-running arguments over the vote – a vote which amassed more than 80% which in itself seems fairly significant in Scottish numbers – are holding up what everyone needs. And that is direction and leadership.

It is bizarre that during these stormy times there has been a lack of visibility and accountability from Doncaster and Murdoch MacLennan. The latter has held his chairman role for the last three years but has been rendered mute by an unwillingness to front up for even one media interview.

No-one has a clue when it will be safe to play football again but the strong likelihood is that it won’t be any time soon. Finding an agreeable path out of the current situation with a view to restoring some semblance of normality is incumbent on all clubs at the minute.

In any case, whenever the evidence that Rangers have is made public then the mud that sticks may owe more to a question of incompetence rather than one of corruption.

And another thing

Scotland isn’t the only place where the fall out from the coronavirus has started to get messy.

Over in France, the pot is slowly starting to boil after the French prime minister, Edouard Philippe, announced that team sports are banned in all form until September.

As such, the Ligue 1 teams had the wind taken abruptly from their sails; they had been looking at an early May return to training. Instead, PSG were declared champions this week and Toulouse relegated.

The latter appear to have accepted their fate with quiet dignity but Lyon, who will finish the season in seventh place, are contesting the call since their placing means they lose out on a European place – and the money that comes with it.

The headache of the legal action they are threatening is exacerbated by the fact that Canal +, the main broadcaster in the country, are also looking now at holding money back since the season was called before it could be completed.