SPFL open themselves up to legal action over COVID retrospective punishment

Celtic and Aberdeen will almost certainly go to war with the SPFL if they are retrospectively punished for their players' misconduct.

It seems that the SPFL are looking to circumvent their own rules by introducing new legislation hastily imposed on clubs, to retrospectively punish both Aberdeen and Celtic for the misconduct of their players after they breached COVID-19 protocols set out by the Scottish government and the football authorities.

Despite no rules in place that punish clubs for their players breaking protocols, the SPFL now look to create a new set of guidelines so that they can punish both clubs despite the misconduct taking place BEFORE the new legislation is in force. Which will almost certainly start a chain reaction of legal action against the league body.

Unlike the SPFL, the Scottish FA can take action and that will be focused solely on the individual players involved rather than the clubs and quite rightly so.

Both clubs are expected to impose punishments on their own players following internal investigations, following on from the Scottish Government ‘advising’ the Scottish FA and SPFL to postpone the games of Aberdeen and Celtic - which was clearly not down to public health concerns but more of a punishment for both clubs illegally imposed on them by the Scottish Government - who are no friends to the Scottish game or its supporters.

Their hypocrisy knows no bounds however. After ‘demanding’ that both Aberdeen and Celtic have their games postponed, the Scottish Government made a ‘judgement call’ [not a decision based on public health concerns] to allow Kilmarnock to take to the field on Wednesday night in the league against Ross County, despite their players being exposed to a player that had wilfully breached protocol by travelling to Spain.

Further highlighting the Scottish Government’s willingness to interfere in football matters - which is a clear violation of UEFA as well as FIFA guidelines.

With no strict liability in the Scottish game, unlike in European competitions, neither Celtic nor Aberdeen can be retrospectively punished by the SPFL even if they decide to enact a law that leads to them both being punished weeks after the events took place. Celtic’s lawyers are far too good to allow the club to sit back and take such a downright illegal punishment to take place. Whether the SPFL are shit scared of Sturgeon and her football supporter hating colleagues showing our game the red card.

It is now apparent that outside pressure from politicians [ and potentially certain elements within Scottish Football itself] are allowing the SPFL to be swayed into punishing two clubs that are clearly innocent in these matters. While they continue ignore, whitewash over and label the breach of testing regulations by Rangers, Motherwell and Hibernian during pre-season as a mere ‘misunderstanding’ - when government guidelines were far stricter than they are now. Yet nothing was said nor done then by the Scottish Government nor the football authorities?

So it begs the question who is pulling Neil Doncaster’s strings? Is he trying to keep those down Govania Way happy after the summer debacle where he refused to null and void the season to prevent Celtic from winning their ninth title in a row? Is he trying to keep them happy over his refusal to hand them a loan on their terms?

From the outside looking in, it looks like the rudderless SPFL and inept Scottish FA are doing the bidding of politicians wanting to make an example of Celtic and Aberdeen, ignoring the fact that government interference in the governance of our game is illegal under UEFA and FIFA regulations.

that there are no rules in place to punish either in Scots Law nor Scottish Football’s rules and regulations.

Going forward, if they do impose such rules and punishments then players and clubs can subsequently be punished for bringing the game into disrepute or with failing to act in the best interest of Scottish Football.

There is also nothing under Scots Law nor current football legislation allowing for clubs to be punished by a new law put into place weeks after the event, no matter how much Doncaster and his cronies jazz it up for the press.

If there was, there would be calls for the SPFL to punish Rangers, Hibernian and Motherwell for breaching testing protocols during pre-season. There would be further calls for the SPFL to punish Rangers and Hibernian for rioting during their Scottish Cup Final rather than the fake ass pathetic charges that were brought against both clubs for their fans damaging advertising hoardings - which both clubs escaped punishment for after a panel deemed the charges as ‘irrelevant’. There would also be further calls for Rangers to be stripped of their titles for breaking Scottish football rules over the use of EBTs and side letters, rather than the ham fisted whitewash that Doncaster and Regan oversaw back in 2012. Where do we stop if the SPFL impose such retrospective punishments?

If the SPFL want to punish clubs with a law that is imposed on clubs after the fact, then what is the cut-off date for punishing clubs? One week, one month, one year, one decade? Or is it simply to target two or specifically one club in particular as they try to secure their 10th league title in a row 10 in a row?

If the SPFL thought they had a battle on their hands when facing Hearts and Partick Thistle over the summer, wait until they face Celtic, Peter Lawwell and their legal team.

Jim Farry saw what the might of Celtic, their board, and their legal team could do when faced with injustice. This fiasco surrounding new legislation and proposed retrospective punishments will almost certainly end Doncaster as SPFL Chief Executive.

Let battle commence.