Scottish Government's national clinical director Jason Leitch says Elgin City and lower league Scottish clubs could yet resume their football season despite the ongoing lockdown restrictions
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FIRST Minister Nicola Sturgeon's tentative steps out of lockdown may not spell the end of Elgin City's football season.
Fears had grown that SPFL Leagues One and Two would not be able to follow on from the Premiership and Championship by getting back to action and finishing off their campaign.
However, the Scottish Government's national clinical director, Jason Leitch, says there will soon be an update on how the lower divisions can proceed.
Leitch was a special guest on BBC Scotland's 'Off the Ball' radio programme at the weekend, and revealed how talks will take place this week.
“I’m pretty confident that this week there will be news which will indicate where we’re headed for the next phase," he said on the show.
“I’m hoping that will be joint Scottish Government and league news because we’re trying to do it together.
Read more: Elgin chairman fears null-and-void season
“We want it to be done with the Joint Response Group, the minister for sport , the clinical advisors and we’ve made quite a lot of progress about what that next phase will look like."
While the Premiership and Championship have carried on with Covid testing in place at all fixtures, play has been suspended for all other leagues in Scotland since January 11.
Elgin City have said they would be keen to resume their season and pay for testing themselves, with the understanding that there is a willingness for other League 1 and 2 clubs to follow suit.
A working group representing the two lower divisions was set up to hold talks with the Joint Response Group, which is made up of few figures from the Scottish FA and Scottish Professional Football League.
But Leitch warned: "It’s complicated because there are the reasons given for why we should, but also 800 positive cases a day in the country, quite a lot of travel and these teams are not full-time so they’re not quite as protected as some of the full-time teams can be.
“It’s not quite as straightforward as it perhaps seems, but I’m hopeful we can do it with mitigation and safety in place.”
There was even some talk of fans being able to return to matches before the end of the season.
When the Scottish Government introduced a tiered system last year based on positive Covid cases in different regions, Moray and the Highlands were placed in tier one.
This classification allowed a limited number of supporters to attend matches in these areas, with Elgin, Ross County, Inverness and several Highland League clubs welcoming fans back for a short spell.
That all ended at Christmas time when all areas were put back to tier four, due to an increase in the spread of the virus.
Leitch admitted if the tier system is re-introduced - as planned in April - that northern parts might have a better chance of having fans back at matches than in the central belt.
“All being well, if there’s no dramatic change for the better or for the worse on April 26 Scotland will move back to some kind of regional level system," he said.
“It may be by that time we can move the whole country to Level 3 or Level 2, we have to wait for the data.
“I think some level of crowds will be possible in some areas and it may be that can happen in the Highlands more likely than it could happen in central Glasgow.”
