Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters praises Scottish FA decision to suspend play for January, but feels the lower tiers are being made to pay for big clubs' mistakes
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SCOTTISH lower league clubs are being used as "sacrifical lambs" with the suspension of play during the Covid-19 crisis, says Elgin City chairman Graham Tatters.
All football below Championship level was suspended for January following a Scottish FA meeting with government ministers this week.
Tatters says the worrying rise in coronavirus cases across the country means the decision is the right call to make just now.
But he said League 1 and 2 clubs, along with all the pyramid leagues and junior and women's football, have been left to pick up the pieces.
He hinted at Celtic's problems this week when defender Christopher Jullien tested positive after returning from a winter break trip to Dubai, resulting in 13 Celtic players having to self-isolate and miss the midweek match against Hibs.
City had enquired about opting out of this campaign last year before play got under way in October, but were told they faced relegation if they didn't enter the league.
After nine of the scheduled 27 League 2 matches, the Moray club are handily placed in second behind full-time Queen's Park, and on course for a play-off place like they were last season when the plug was pulled back in March.
There is now a threat that this campaign won't finish as well, meaning that the pandemic could twice deny Elgin a shot at a first-ever promotion.
However, Tatters has no issue with the call to put matters on hold until coronavirus cases start to drop off.
"If it continues the way it is going we are just going to flood the NHS, all the hospitals and ICUs and we can’t afford that to happen," he said. "At the end of the day it’s a game of football, it’s not life and death.
"It's definitely the right decision," he said. "I’ve said all along that we should never have started.
"Once we did have to start, we’ve done well and put every protocol in place and kept this at bay from everyone at the club.
"I think we are being made a bit of a sacrificial lamb because really what they (SPFL) were concerned about was what was happening with Celtic regarding when they came back.
"And what’s happened is with the Premier League and the Championship having broadcast contracts, we were easy meat.
"The football authorities said they would preempt the decision and go for a shutdown of all the lower leagues and see if that makes a difference.
"I can understand why they did this but I don’t think the clubs at this level are responsible for creating some of the Covid problems."
Elgin City will now furlough all their players for the rest of the month and shut down operations completely.
Squad training cannot take place and manager Gavin Price has given his squad their own fitness programmes to follow for the next three weeks.
