FIELD OF DREAMS: CELTIC TITLE VICTORY AIM

CHAMPIONS Celtic, with only eight league games left to play, WILL support calls to play the season to a finish.

Emergency talks will be held tomorrow and Wednesday as under-pressure clubs discuss the best way to proceed with chaos and uncertainty in football which is in worldwide lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The SPFL are reported to have looked at their Belgian counterparts who called time on their league season and awarded the title to Clubb Brugge who held a 15-point lead over Mikael Lustig’s Gent.

However, that premature move has enraged UEFA bosses who have threatened to block their clubs from appearing in the major European competitions.

The Belgian authorities have now stalled on ratifying their decision and could wait until the end of the month to see how things play out with other authorities in Europe.

The Hoops, of course, are 13 points in the clear at the top of the league and would need a calamitous collapse in form to fail to win their ninth successive crown. Neil Lennon’s side also have a superior goal difference of plus 25 and have gone down in only two Premiership matches in their 30 outings. They would be required to lose something like five from eight to fail to lift the flag.

There has been support from other quarters to award the Parkhead men the championship – Aberdeen boss Derek McInnes and Livingston gaffer Gary Holt made the call over the weekend, as CQN reported – but these notions have angered the teams from Ibrox, who, extraordinarily, haven’t given up on winning the title, and Tynecastle with Hearts, four points adrift of Hamilton Accies at the foot of the table, facing relegation.

The Hoops have insisted all along that they want to win their 51st flag in their history on the pitch and will re-enforce that feeling at the crucial talks among the clubs.

The Parkhead hierarchy would be prepared to push the season into the summer if it got the job done.

Over the next 72 hours or so, the financially-stricken Scottish outfits will put their case as to how they see the best way to progress.

The SPFL board had scheduled crisis talks today, but that was pushed back by 24 hours after UEFA’s reaction to the early decision from the Belgians. The board meeting will now take place tomorrow with separate divisional discussions, involving 42 clubs from all four leagues, pushed back to Wednesday, according to the Daily Record.

SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster is likely to call for clubs not to rush into a decision to scrap the current campaign.