Reconstruction in the time of near-universal insolvency

It fell to Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters to call out Hearts chairwoman, Ann Budge:

“We go and put the two teams who are bottom of the league in charge of the reconstruction talks.

“I just feel all of this is being done just to find a way to stop teams going down.

“We’ve lost out on the chance of promotion but when the resolution was put out to end
 the season it was a no-brainer for us.

“I’ve got no problem with Neil Doncaster and the SPFL. They are
 doing what they can and have been fantastic at getting
 information to all the clubs. Someone had to make the decision – there was no point fannying about.”

Tatters moved on from not fannying about to the crux of football’s problem:

“People are scared to say it but we might not be playing until Christmas, or even until they have a vaccine.

“Forget about playing behind closed doors. We have a real problem here. Reconstruction talk is a bit of a joke – it’s a total red herring.”

It is impossible to decide how many teams should occupy each league on a temporary two-year basis (which Budge hopes will give her enough time to avoid relegation) if you do not know how many games it will be possible to play next season, what cash flow there will be in the game or how many professional clubs will remain in business.

If Motherwell and Kilmarnock cannot sell a match ticket until January, and then only for around a dozen home games, will they want the league’s commercial income distributed 14 ways instead of 12?

With so many clubs sitting precariously on the edge of insolvency, do you expect them to vote to reduce their share of the pie?  I think Ann Budge will meet resistance in her plans to reconstruct Scottish football on a temporary basis to allow Hearts to avoid relegation.

Reconstruction is in the wind, but will look different to what many imagine.  Pretty much all of the community clubs, occupying the bottom two leagues in the SPFL can cut their cash burn to near zero and survive, the same is true for some in the Championship, with Alloa  and Arbroath.

The vast majority of the rest will have to go into administration, make relatively high-earners redundant, in order to survive.  How else can Aberdeen get through a £1m per month cash burn?  There will be a Bonfire of the Vanities, from Edinburgh, to Aberdeen, Dundee and, of course, Govan.   The same is true across Europe, most particularly, in the English Championship.

There is an almighty reconstruction ahead, but I don’t think anyone can imagine what it will look like yet.  Dare we hope for the biggest change of all?  I’m not sure.