Like anything good in life, the SPFL’s reconstruction talks will be about striking a fine balance.
There is no one perfect solution for all clubs that will come out of this.
There will be relative winners and losers but no team should be left worse off in a sporting or a financial sense.
That two-fold quandary is one all 42 league clubs, plus those further down the pyramid, will be weighing up, including Dundee and Dundee United.
The way I see it, for our city clubs, the best outcome for both would be a 14-team top flight, with the lower leagues remaining in their current 10-club format.
United are already guaranteed a place at the top table, whatever the format when action resumes, whenever that may be, after their coronation as second-tier champions.
Whether it is 12, 14 or 16 is, largely, irrelevant from a sporting sense. However, they may suffer in monetary terms with a bigger division.
The Dark Blues would, potentially, find themselves in the Premiership if it was to be expanded to 16 but, again the financial gains would lessen.
Finding a happy medium with 14 suits both.
The Tangerines will have more high-profile fixtures and stronger gate receipts, while the Dee would likely be left as top dogs in the Championship with Inverness going up and Hearts staving off relegation.
Given how they ended the season, they would go into the new campaign in confident mood they could steal a march on the competition.
Hopefully, for both Robbie Neilson and James McPake’s men, out of our current darkness comes light.
Despite the ongoing global situation with the coronavirus and the shutdown of our game, there should be some cause for cautious optimism.
Yes, action may not return for a while and many clubs will have a tough time getting through it, certainly from a monetary standpoint.
However, the American chiefs at both Dens and Tannadice have shown, time and time again, their commitment to the cause.
That and two remarkably passionate and strong fan-bases who have helped drag their respective teams through tough times before should, hopefully, see our proud, historic clubs through the other side.
Many are suffering at present, within and outwith football, but it is only by achieving a state of equilibrium we will get through.
The SPFL must take another brave step in rebuilding our game after Uefa paved the way for calling the Premiership season.
The European body’s latest advice to leagues ratifies that ending the current campaign now is an option in these exceptional times.
And it should be one Hampden chiefs are exploring after First Minister Nicola Sturgeon’s comments this week we are unlikely to see football, or life, as we know it anytime soon.
I implore SPFL chief Neil Doncaster to bite the bullet, this season is already in the books for most.
The league cannot pander to the whim of individual clubs amid a global public health crisis like Covid-19, regardless of the furore that may ensue, it is simply crass.
After ending the lower league season, they have a mandate they must enact in the top-tier.
Yes, Rangers might be unhappy but it would free up money for others and bottom club Hearts will likely be safe with Ann Budge chairing talks on reconstruction.
Although, we could just surrender to tribalism as usual? Think on high heidyins…
Make no mistake, Tommy Wright would be a tremendous loss for St Johnstone if he gets the Northern Ireland job.
Sometimes you don’t realise what you had until it’s gone but I think most Saints fans will recognise their 2014 Scottish Cup-winning manager as one of the club’s greatest ever.
If he is to leave, perhaps a replacement could be found in cup-winning captain Dave Mackay? Currently at Dundee, the lure of the McDiarmid Park dugout would be tempting. . .
One good thing about lockdown, for a kid like me, has been all the classic matches on TV. It turns out football existed before 2000 – who knew?
Last night’s re-run of the 1995 Dundee derby was an electrifying watch!
https://www.eveningtelegraph.co.uk/fp/dundee-deefiant-ross-county/
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