Nicola Sturgeon has responded to Neil Doncaster’s request for an emergency meeting to let fans back into football, ad has told him the game can’t be “treated in isolation.”
The SPFL chief requested a discussion with the First Minister to try and thrash out a plan that will let punters back through the turnstiles, in line with plans being drawn up in England.
Doncaster warned that a failure to do so could be the “death knell” for Scottish clubs, who are already feeling the financial squeeze due to the coronavirus pandemic.
He also wanted an explanation as to the difference between fans north and south of the border should the gates to grounds remain locked, after Prime Minister Boris Johnson gave the thumbs up to fans getting back to games providing restrictions can be eased.
A letter read: "If the First Minister refuses to allow football fans all over Scotland to watch their beloved teams in carefully-regulated, limited numbers, complete with track and trace, she will have to explain to them the clinical difference between Scottish fans and English fans."
However, Ms Sturgeon has told the league’s head honcho that she can’t just separate football from society and make decisions purely for the sport’s benefit.
She said: "However much Neil Doncaster, for reasons I understand, is only looking at football, we can't see any sector or any part of society in isolation because there is only so much we can do overall to keep the virus under control."
Test events have taken place at a number of Scottish games this season, and clubs in tier one local authority areas - including Ross County and Inverness CT - have been able to get limited numbers of fans back to their games.
But similar moves in the rest of the country remain unlikely to happen any time soon with the R rate still too high in order to start downgrading council areas to less restrictive tiers.
