Report: Closed door games again on the table in the UK

By John McGinley

March 20, 2020

Closed doors games are again on the table in the English Premier League, as reported by The Independent today, which could have a knock-on effect of impacting Scottish football and Celtic.

Due to the ongoing public health crisis, matches across the UK have been suspended until further notice, with no guarantees that league seasons north and south of the Scotland/England border are completed.

The Independent say that in England there was an acknowledgement that playing games behind closed doors, without spectators, was not preferable.

However, with hundreds of millions of pounds potentially having to be paid back to TV broadcasters, clubs are now considering to continue with matches and finish the league season.

There are fears some clubs, even in the English top-flight, could go bust.

It’s said there are plans to start this as early as May.

Other sources have suggested to the paper that the idea is ‘pie in the sky’ and it’ll be June at the earliest that any football takes place.

Obviously this is a situation that quickly changes, even on a day to day or hour to hour basis.

However, if the Premier League did return, it wouldn’t be much of a surprise to see the Scottish Premiership follow suit.

The SPFL and SFA quickly followed to postpone matches in the wake of the English authorities’ decision earlier this month.

General view of Celtic Park / (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

Ultimately it seems that any decision will be made closely following any advice from authorities, so how it all plays out depends on many, many more important factors away from football over the next few weeks.

However, it seems there is at least an intention to finish the English season amongst some worried clubs.