Dundee Utd promoted to Scottish Premiership, Partick relegated to Championship; Dundee say this is "best deal possible"; strong words from Stranraer
Thursday 16 April 2020 19:47, UK
Dundee have voted yes to an SPFL resolution, meaning the Scottish Championship, League One and League Two will finish for the season.
Dundee United have been declared champions of the Ladbrokes Championship, Raith Rovers are champions of Ladbrokes League 1, and Cove Rangers have been crowned champions of Ladbrokes League 2.
Those three sides will all be promoted, while Partick Thistle will be relegated from the Championship and Stranraer are demoted from League One.
The SPFL will launch a task force to consider the possibility of expanding the Premiership for the 2020/21 season.
Championship club Dundee ended up with the deciding vote on the plan - after their original electronic vote did not reach the SPFL - meaning the directors' written resolution has passed.
"We have achieved the best deal possible out of a situation that was going to be bad for us in any iteration that was being proposed," Dundee said in a statement on Thursday.
"Let us be clear, no matter what the proposal looked like, the majority of the clubs in the Premiership and the Championship are proponents of promotion/relegation.
"Any solution that did not include this would not have enough support to be passed. Therefore the SPFL chose to include it to expedite the conclusion, but without considering the ramifications to all clubs.
"From a very poor situation, we have gotten the best result for Dundee FC and for Scottish Football as a whole. Of 42 teams, 35 have voted yes in a democratic ballot and for most, the important thing is the monies can be distributed and they can work on survival plans for their clubs.
"It is time now to return our focus on staying safe and planning for the future of Dundee FC."
SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster said: "Prior to this positive result, we were unable to make the vital end-of-season payments, which will provide a lifeline to so many clubs in the lower divisions.
"From our detailed discussions with clubs, many were facing an enormous cash-flow crisis. We have moved as quickly as possible to try to resolve this unprecedented situation.
"We will now be working as quickly as we can to get the end-of-season payments to members in the three lower divisions by the end of this week."
The SPFL said: "The directors' written resolution ending season 2019/20 in the Ladbrokes Championship, Ladbrokes League One and Ladbrokes League Two, has been passed with agreement by 81 per cent of all members."
And SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan said: "With the turmoil and uncertainty caused by the Covid-19 outbreak, there was always going to be a highly-charged and passionate debate about how we secure the future of Scottish football.
"It is no exaggeration to say that this was an existential matter for Scottish clubs, with many of them telling us they were at real risk of going under unless the situation was resolved very quickly, so I'm pleased that the game has moved decisively.
"Whilst more than 80 per cent of clubs agreed with the directors' written resolution, it's clear that others were strongly opposed.
"There has been talk of voiding the season, making emergency loans and so on, but what has been agreed today is not just the best way forward, it was the only realistic way forward.
"I now call on all 42 clubs to move forward in a constructive and positive way."
League One bottom club Stranraer, one of two sides along with Partick Thistle to have their relegation confirmed as a result of the decision, described it as "grossly unfair".
In a statement, the club said: "At this unprecedented time we felt unanimously as a committee that no football club, Stranraer FC or any other, should be at a detriment due to this horrendous situation.
"It is grossly unfair that any club should be relegated from their respective league whilst a quarter of the season still remains.
"We strongly felt that, at this time more than any other, Scottish football should demonstrate the absolute philosophy of real 'sporting integrity' in order to ensure a collective responsibility to all member clubs."
Thistle have said they will not take legal action against the SPFL following the governing body's resolution to the season.
Thistle's lawyers told them they have a case after clubs voted to end the season, but they said taking it to court could inflict even more financial peril on them.
"The Board has agreed that we will not seek further remedy against the SPFL in order to overturn the resolution," the club said in a statement.
"Although we remain at a loss to understand why a decision was taken - at a time when governments are seeking to support jobs across sectors - that will cause significant damage to Thistle and others.
"Instead, we will focus our efforts and monies on Thistle and look forward, not back. That includes making a positive contribution to the discussions on possible changes to the league structures."
Dundee United return to the top flight as winners of the Scottish Championship after being 14 points clear of second placed Inverness with eight games to go.
"We're obviously delighted to get it sealed up," manager Ronnie Neilson told Sky Sports News.
"It's not the way we would have like to have done it but there are bigger things going on in the world at the moment and we just have to accept the way things are.
"The objective for the club at the start of the season was to get promoted, as it has been for the last four seasons, so we're just delighted to finally get the title and we can start planning now for next year.
"The fans have been following the team up and down the length of the country for the last four years in a very difficult league and have had a lot of disappointments throughout that time.
"To have finally managed to win the league, to get out of the league, I would have like to have celebrated it with them.
"But there are bigger things going on at the moment and I am sure when things settle back down again and we get out of this lockdown we will put something on and we can have a real celebration because I think it's very important."
Hearts owner Ann Budge and her Hamilton counterpart Les Gray will now lead a task force to look into the possibility of expanding the Scottish Premiership for next season.
The most likely option would be an expansion to 14 teams, ensuring Hearts avoided relegation, with Dundee United and Inverness Caledonian Thistle promoted.
A potential knock-on effect of the expansion - which would require an 11-1 vote in favour among Premiership clubs - could be the promotion of the respective Highland and Lowland League champions, Brora Rangers and Kelty Hearts, into League Two.
Analysis from Sky Sports News' Luke Shanley, speaking on The Football Show:
A resolution was put to the clubs last Wednesday. It was a 28-day motion but they wanted an answer by Friday to end the leagues - the Championship, League 1 and League 2 - immediately, on a point-per-game basis and give the SPFL board the power to end the Premiership at a later date.
But, as always in Scotland, it's never easy. Some were against this motion - nothing wrong with that - but it came down to Dundee's vote. The vote results were released on Friday, despite all the clubs not having voted. Then we realised that Dundee held the Scottish football - certainly in the short-term - in its power.
They had voted no but changed their mind. The vote hadn't reached the league, they said they wanted time to think about it and it wasn't until 5pm on Wednesday they'd decided to vote yes, meaning the motion was carried, the lower leagues are finished and the SPFL board have the power to end the Premiership at a later date.
We'll find out if they could potentially play games behind closed doors in due course. The SPFL want the option to see if any football could start again. UEFA are meeting later this month so they're trying to give themselves breathing space at a very difficult time, health-wise. The board have crucially said they'll consult with all 12 Premiership clubs.
But there's a lot of rancour and debate because of this yes/no vote and Dundee changing their mind.
Could there be a further challenge over promotion and relegation? Potentially. Anyone doing so will have to get a move on because now the resolution has passed, the SPFL want to pay the monies to the lower-league clubs; that was a big part of this because many clubs need the cash and are hand-to-mouth. We'll wait to see if there's any challenges in the next day or two.
One thing to come out of this is that the SPFL have said they will now start to look at potentially restructuring the Scottish Premiership. They might expand it - that might mean no relegation.
It's just the end of the beginning. There's plenty more fallout to come.
