BBC Scotland’s chief sports writer Tom English and the former chief executive of the SFA, Stewart Regan, recently appeared on the BBC’s ‘Sportsound’ podcast where they shared their thoughts on SPFL clubs voting against league reconstruction, with Hearts the main talking point.
As a result of the current viral outbreak, the Scottish Premiership season was concluded prematurely back in May, resulting in the season finishing with Hearts at the bottom of the table, despite the fact that all games had not yet been played.
The SPFL recently held a vote amongst their member clubs to decide on whether or not to implement league reconstruction plans that would have seen 14 teams take part in next season’s Scottish Premiership, with 10 teams participating in each of the remaining three divisions within the SPFL.
This reconstruction would have seen Hearts remain in Scotland’s top flight next season as a result, however, as per The Daily Record, the SPFL’s member clubs voted against these plans, confirming that Hearts will be relegated from Scotland’s top tier.
During their recent appearance on the BBC’s Sportsound podcast, Regan and English discussed what they believe the motives were behind the SPFL clubs’ decisions to vote against league reconstruction.
Regan said: “I think those clubs voted for what was best for them and putting a reconstruction model in place and having [the 14-10-10-10 structure] means two teams come up. Those two teams are very, very good teams. They would cause a few problems in League Two and therefore there’s a fear factor that sets in.”
The SFA’s former chief executive then went on to state: “I don’t think they voted against Hearts or Partick Thistle going down, they voted for what’s best for their club.”
English responded to this by saying: “I think they voted for both. I think, certainly, in the case of Hearts, I think there was an animosity towards Hearts and there was a desire amongst some, not all, amongst some, to stick the knife into Hearts.”
Do you think that SPFL clubs voted against Hearts?YES, THEY VOTED AGAINST HEARTS
NO, THEY VOTED FOR THEMSELVES
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TIF Thoughts…
Considering that this vote could have resulted in Hearts avoiding relegation following the premature conclusion of the 2019/20 campaign, it may be understandable why some might feel that Hearts were hard done by. However, it may not be fair to accuse clubs of voting against league reconstruction out of animosity towards the club as their rivals likely had their own reasons behind their vote, as explained by Regan.