League bosses have insisted their plan to return to full capacity crowds in time for the Premiership restart is based on data which proves fans won’t be putting their lives at risk.
Record Sport revealed this week that the game’s governing bodies have informed clubs they expect to be given the green light to throw open the gates when the Premiership re-starts with a clash between Celtic and Hibs in less than a fortnight’s time.
The SPFL confirmed our ‘full steam ahead’ exclusive as top level talks with the government continued behind the scenes.
Despite fears that Holyrood could yet perform a late U-turn in the face of soaring coronavirus numbers, league chief executive Neil Doncaster has advised clubs to get ready for "business as usual" when the current circuit breaker restrictions - which limit crowds to just 500 - are lifted in ten days’ time.
And they insist the dominance of the new Omicron strain justifies the move back to bumper attendances.
An SPFL spokesperson told us: “It’s now almost universally accepted that while clearly more infectious, the Omicron variant is far less severe in its impact than previous waves, which is very welcome news.
“Although Covid has shown time and again that you can’t take anything for granted, we’re therefore quietly optimistic that the clubs’ vote to bring forward the winter break to allow breathing space to assess the Omicron variant will prove to be the right one.
“Everyone in Scottish football is hopeful that games will be able to resume on the 17th without restrictions on fans and we await further developments as we liaise with Scottish Government over the coming week or so.”
Doncaster had to rubber-stamp an eleventh hour reshuffle of the packed festive fixture calendar just before Christmas when the new hard-line regulations were imposed.
One round of top flight matches did go ahead effectively behind closed doors on Boxing Day but two further rounds of matches - including big city derbies in Dundee, Edinburgh and Glasgow - were postponed as the winter break was brought forward by two weeks.
As we reported on Wednesday night, football’s Joint Response Group has also asked for a £2m slice of the £5m crisis fund set aside for sport, to help cash strapped clubs cover the financial costs of the latest Covid upheaval.
