This week’s decision not to give a return date for all the leagues below the Championship has made it increasingly likely that we won’t see them played to a finish.
There seems to have been some mixed messages about who is driving the process – the government or the footballing authorities?
Either way, the conclusion is the same for me, I just can’t see how you could realistically schedule a return now. The deeper you drill down into the details, the harder it becomes.
There will be plenty of good pros out there who have been keeping themselves as fit as they can over the last couple of months but with the next update on the situation being kicked down the road to March 1, you would be looking at the middle of that month at the very earliest before you could play again.
The play-offs are the big obstacle to restarting that late.
Whoever finishes second bottom of the Championship could be faced with a situation where they have played their last league game but have a long wait until they go into the play-offs with the League One clubs.
It’s not as if they’d be able to play friendlies to keep them ticking over.
For me, this week felt like the last window to get things going again.
Providing the grants the hibernating clubs have received are enough to sustain them through to 2021/22, knocking 2020/21 on the head is starting to feel like the likeliest outcome.
Of course, you would feel sorry for clubs going for titles but there is certainly enough time to come up with a sensible plan for regionalised reconstruction, which has always been something I’ve believed strongly in.
It’s great to see ourselves and Alloa showing again that the part-time clubs will be giving the full-time ones a fright in the Championship.
We showed last season that the games between Arbroath and Alloa can’t be written off as the battle between the bottom two and, going into Saturday’s match, we’re both coming off great wins and looking to move up the table.
I’ve been saying for a while that our performances have deserved more and we’re now getting the rewards.
Saturday’s win against Dunfermline was all about character, commitment and some good football.
Long may it continue.
Kilmarnock have made absolutely the right choice in appointing Tommy Wright as their new manager.
You hear the phrase ‘no-brainer’ a lot in football and this is one of the best examples of that you’ll see.
Going down from the Premiership this season would be disastrous for them.
There is no such thing as a risk-free appointment but this is as close as you can get to one.
You would back Tommy to make the common-sense decisions that are needed at a time when the stakes are really high.
One of those was keeping Billy Thomson on the staff as goalkeeping coach.
Billy was one of the best I worked under and his judgment will be invaluable to Tommy during this transition period and beyond.
