SPFL’s latest move ends all chances of ‘null and void’

After much speculation as to how the season would end, thankfully the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) has added some clarity to the situation.

The football world has been brought to a complete halt due to the novel coronavirus. Leagues and clubs across Europe have been scrambling to figure out how to best proceed, or conclude the season. Now, the SPFL has given some more clarity for Scottish football clubs.

News has recently broke that the SPFL will begin advance payments to each Scottish football club, and each payment will depend on where the club is currently ranked, as well as their size. Each club’s operating expenses will differ depending on their size so this makes sense.

The report by the BBC has added some clarity to the situation, in which the SPFL will begin expediting these payments that usually come due in April:

"“Payments due to be paid in April have begun to appear in the bank accounts of each of the clubs, many of which are suffering financial difficulty.“The top three in the Premiership – Celtic, Rangers and Motherwell – will receive £395,000 plus VAT.“The rest of the top-flight clubs will get £157,500 plus VAT.“The payments dip significantly down the divisions. Championship clubs are due to be paid £26,500 plus VAT, League One clubs £2,700 plus VAT and League Two clubs £1,350 plus VAT.”"

So, what does this mean for the conclusion of the season? Well, for one, it means that talks of the ‘null and void’ possibility are pretty much dead. With these advance payments, it seems ever more likely that if the conclusion of the season were to occur within the next few weeks, it would seem likely Celtic would be awarded the title by default.

However, the implications of just being handed the title could extend beyond this season. We have taken an in depth look at what that situation could look like. In any case, it seems like a conclusion will be reached shortly. Stay tuned.