Lowland and East of Scotland League clubs to consider plan B after shutdown extension

Bonnyrigg Rose and Bo'ness United are waiting for the green light to resume their season in the Lowland League.

It follows last week’s announcement that the next Scottish FA review into the resumption of lower league football won’t take place until March 1.

Kenny McLean, the East of Scotland and Lowland League fixture secretary, is “surprised” that Leagues 1 and 2 were not allowed to restart after offering to implement the same testing protocols being used by Premiership and Championship clubs.

He says that decision has changed perspectives among Lowland and East of Scotland League officials, who are now ready to discuss various contingency options with member clubs. East of Scotland League clubs meet this Thursday.

Options are thought to include splitting the tables into two smaller mini leagues.

McLean said: “We have to be realistic and we may have to start activating plan B because it’s more likely to be needed now, especially for the Lowland League because it has to be finished by a certain date.”

The clubs in both leagues agreed before season started that the leagues would not be declared null and void if every club completes 50% of their league matches.

McLean added: “All the clubs know about the 50% threshold. Various contingency plans depend on what we can come up to fill the time period with fixtures, whether that means splits or something else. There are greater concerns now that we won’t be resuming in March.

"We had probably hoped to have been back training by then, but that seems to be sliding back a few weeks.

“It looks as though the contingency plans will have to move from paper exercises to things that will have to soon be rolled out.”

McLean said that although league fixtures could be played in June, there are concerns it would run into pre-season for the 2021/22 campaign and clash with the Euro 2020 finals.

He also dismissed hopes that things will soon return to normal, warning: “I’d be surprised if we were protocol free in six months´ time, so a lot of these things will be place next season.

"But we have shown at this level that our protocols are very robust. In fact, they have been shown to be better than leagues further up the pyramid.”