Kris Commons is at it again; believes Celtic would get preferential SPFL treatment

By John McGinley

September 14, 2020

Pundit Kris Commons believes Celtic would get preferential treatment from the SPFL, in comparison to smaller sides like St Mirren, if a COVID problem struck the club, writing in his Scottish Daily Mail column on Monday (14/09 print edition, Verdict supplement page 16).

In a rather absurd rant, Commons puts forward his point of view after the Buddies were forced to play their weekend match against Hibs despite not having a goalkeeper in place because of unfortunate positive coronavirus tests.

They eventually managed to sign Bobby Zlamal from Hearts on an emergency loan but clearly the circumstances were far from ideal.

Despite a precedent now being set, Commons believes the SPFL board and joint response group would give Celtic more preferential treatment in the event of positive tests at Lennoxtown.

St Mirren’s stadium / (Photo by Ian Horrocks/Sunderland AFC via Getty Images)

As quoted by The Scottish Daily Mail, the pundit said: “The fact is that St Mirren are fighting for their lives. They are one of the favourites to be relegated. They want to stay in the league and, in order to do that, they need every point they can get.

“Can you imagine if we had an Old Firm game, with the league on the line in one of the last matches of the Premiership season, and the very same situation as happened to St Mirren occurred at Lennoxtown?

“Imagine the SPFL said to Celtic: ‘You’ve got no goalkeepers. You’ve just got to get on with it. Deal with it.’

“If Celtic had to face Rangers with, say, James Forrest in goals, there would be carnage. Let’s not pretend otherwise. But it wouldn’t even get to that stage because, 100 per cent, the league would postpone the game. If they didn’t, there would be uproar.”

It’s quite a stretch to believe, now they have sent a message that fixtures will be incredibly tough to postpone, that the SPFL board made up of officials from clubs at all levels of the league would hand Celtic massive advantages over others.

The joint response group are simply following the advice of health and government officials when making their decisions and ultimately St Mirren managed to sort out bringing in a goalkeeper in time.

Hampden Stadium / (Photo by Paul Harding – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)

I have massive sympathy for the Paisley side, who have players and staff that work very hard to succeed, but there’s no need to drag Celtic into it, especially when there’s not much evidence the league are going out of their way to help Celtic succeed.

These are all pressure moments and that makes decisions difficult. Postponing fixtures when there’s no need to is not the answer.

In other news, Primal Scream have paid tribute to new signing Shane Duffy after his dream Celtic debut.