Hearts manager Daniel Stendel insists ending season early due to Coronavirus cannot happen

Hearts manager Daniel Stendel wants the 38-game Premiership season completed in full

Hearts manager Daniel Stendel is firmly against ending the Scottish football season early if the Coronavirus outbreak worsens. That prospect could relegate the Edinburgh club prematurely and Stendel is urging authorities not to act in haste.

Other countries are playing matches behind closed doors, with Stendel’s compatriots in Germany discussing whether to take that measure to restrict the spread of the illness. Certain Champions League ties are also taking place without supporters.

The Scottish Football Association and Scottish Professional Football League are proceeding as normal for now. However, should the Coronavirus epidemic heighten, measures would be taken to cope with the threat to the public.

Hearts are currently bottom of the Premiership, three points adrift of St Mirren with nine games remaining. Stendel would reluctantly accept games inside an empty Tynecastle Park but is adamant the league campaign must be played to its scheduled conclusion.

“I have an idea about that,” he said. “I think, even everything that has happened with the Coronavirus, the competition is 38 games. You cannot say after however many games that you just stop the league. I think it’s not really the rule, the spirit.

“Fair? Fair is not important to me. I have my opinion but it’s too difficult to express it fully in English at the moment.”

On closed-door matches, he added: "That’s the worst case but it’s not my decision. We all love the atmosphere at Tynecastle and in every stadium. This is the reason why we play this game. I hope it will not happen. I concentrate entirely on the football, the work with the team. Other things, I cannot influence.

“Today was the start of talking about [closed-door games] in Germany for the first time. I don’t know the future. I’m very similar to Jurgen Klopp, I have not an idea. I’m not a virologist.”

Hearts owner Ann Budge has held tentative discussions with her manager about what measures the game’s governors may take. “We have spoken but not really concrete. I have some information but it is not helpful for my work,” said Stendel.