A conspiracy theorist industry was born

With three weeks until the scheduled kick off of season 2020-21 and 25 days until Uefa’s deadline on submitting champions for season 2019-20, the Scottish Government will today permit football to be played behind closed doors.

An industry was born this spring for conspiracy theorists who insist Scottish football would have been able to complete last season’s league programme, with blame variously laid at the feet of the SPFL or Peter Lawwell.  The former were told in no uncertain terms by the Government that the game would not resume as early as it has across Europe.  The latter, with his club sailing towards nine-in-a-row, wanted the season finished on the pitch.

Facts never matter to conspiracy theorists, they are too much trouble.  Lazy thinking will allow them to reminisce about what happened this spring for decades to come.

Uefa’s ruling yesterday that the first three qualification rounds for next season’s Champions and Europa Leagues is welcome.  Celtic will be seeded for each of these rounds, so given an even chance, we would hope to progress.  The biggest obstacle on this front is playing away in front of a partisan crowd – and let’s remember, Scottish clubs have waited longer than virtually everyone else for permission to even cross the white line.