Stirling Albion expect to hear soon on the next steps for the potential resumption of football in League 2.
The Scottish FA suspended football below the Championship earlier this month, bringing a halt to League 1 and 2 as well as the likes of the Highland League and Lowland League.
Kevin Rutkiewicz’s men would have been due to face leaders Queen’s Park at Hampden tomorrow but that match is postponed, as were the fixtures at home to Brechin City and away to Elgin City earlier in the month.
The initial suspension of the game below the top two divisions was until January 31 but yesterday (Thursday), club chairman Stuart Brown said he hadn’t heard anything about a return.
The 20 lower-league clubs last week wrote to SFA chief executive Ian Maxwell proposing a route map back to playing and that was discussed at a meeting earlier this week.
“The clubs had a couple of representatives from each league at the meeting and the update was that it ‘went well’,’” said Mr Brown. “We expect to hear something by January 31.”
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The document submitted to the SFA proposes for lower league clubs to resume training on February 15 and start playing games again on March 2 with the hope that the 27-game league campaigns and play-offs could be completed by the end of May.
The clubs also propose introducing weekly Covid-19 testing for players and staff, which would be reviewed at the end of March, cutting the number of people attending games with no away directors and scouts allowed.
Testing on a weekly basis till the end of the season is likely to cost clubs around £25,000 – something which part-time Championship clubs Alloa Athletic and Arbroath are currently undertaking.
“I think we all want to be back playing but we have to be safe,” added Mr Brown.
As well as the remaining league fixtures, the calendar for the 2020/21 Scottish Cup is also still to be confirmed. Stirling were drawn at home to Raith Rovers in the second round on January 9 after beating Berwick Rangers 3-0 on Boxing Day but the Forthbank fixture was postponed because of a frozen pitch.
Assuming the lower-leagues do get the green light in the near future, it will be a hectic fixture schedule between then and the current end date of May 1.
