Suspension of Football at SPFL League 1 and below extended

The SFA/SPFL have this afternoon confirmed that they have received confirmation from the Scottish Government that in cognisance of the current restrictions in place across the country, they cannot currently commit to return dates for football below SPFL Championship level.

A further review/update will take place no later than March 1^st.

Although not unexpected,  this decisions still comes as a disappointment following proposals put forward by a working group set up by the clubs in Leagues One/Tow including weekly testing of staff and players and other new measures which would have broadly been in line with current protocols utilised in the Championship for example.        

These proposals if they had been accepted would have allowed for a resumption of training next week with a view to re-commencing league fixtures on March 2^nd.

Looking ahead on a practical level, the possibility of being able to complete a 27 game league season and also the Scottish Cup is beginning to look a difficult proposition for League One and Two clubs and certainly with a now best-case scenario of a mid to late March resumption of competitive action, difficult decisions would appear to lie ahead.

However as has been said on many occasions, football however much a part of the national and local fabric pales into insignificance at times like this.     Thankfully the daily statistics of the pandemic in Scotland continue to be encouraging and the roll-out of the vaccine programme gathers pace, especially it would appear in Forfar and the surrounding area.

All credit and as ever grateful thanks to all to the NHS staff and others who are involved.

Better times are surely on the horizon?