Jump to content

Club covid executives - a statement.


antrin

Recommended Posts


1 hour ago, windae cleaner said:

Listen we are going round in circles

The majority of fans and even pundits think we have been harshly dealt with

The ones who don't are St Mirren fans who want heads on a stake

Their dislike of Scott and Fitzpatrick and a golden chance to stick the boot in

It's getting tedious

Its not that simple. I, for one, think we've been harshly treated. We deserved to be punished for breaking the rules, but the punishment was too severe. And because we broke those rules in the way we did, even after the goalkeeper fiasco, heads SHOULD roll. (Could be players, coaching OR admin staff)

I think TF is a really nice guy - Saints through and through. But is he a good CEO? Events at SMFC would appear to suggest not.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

7 minutes ago, bazil85 said:

Good on them, beyond doubt the correct decision to appeal.

Even if we put aside the harshness of the punishment, we can still see a complete lack of consistency and fairness in dishing out said punishment. 

The board obviously hasn't been listening to the future owners.  FF.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

4 minutes ago, Yflab said:

My main concern over an appeal is additional punishments handed out to individual players who were found to be car sharing and more legal costs.

I hope though for a positive outcome.

Don't you worry about it, they'll use to gate money.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whilst I agree with the sentiment I'm not sure the cost, the potential suspension of the players concerned and the immediate imposition of the suspended fine for having the temerity to question the ruling on top of the original punishment are worth the attempt to argue that we didn't royally make an arse of it in the first place.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

14 minutes ago, StanleySaint said:

Whilst I agree with the sentiment I'm not sure the cost, the potential suspension of the players concerned and the immediate imposition of the suspended fine for having the temerity to question the ruling on top of the original punishment are worth the attempt to argue that we didn't royally make an arse of it in the first place.

By not fighting this we allow the SPFL to continually use as their whipping boys. The cost of not fighting this is potentially huge.

Having read the SPFL case we need to throw other teams under the bus. Celtic, Dundee Utd, Rangers. In our visits to other clubs we will have seen any examples of failures of clubs to follow “The Protocols”. There is no proof that the failure of so called protocols resulted in players catching Covid. The medical and government approach is to speculate where you catch it. 

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

9 minutes ago, Brilliant Disguise said:

By not fighting this we allow the SPFL to continually use as their whipping boys. The cost of not fighting this is potentially huge.

Having read the SPFL case we need to throw other teams under the bus. Celtic, Dundee Utd, Rangers. In our visits to other clubs we will have seen any examples of failures of clubs to follow “The Protocols”. There is no proof that the failure of so called protocols resulted in players catching Covid. The medical and government approach is to speculate where you catch it. 

 

JG says in B and W mag interview that a player caught it from his mother, who works as a carer.
I await with interest the line of defence used in the appeal process and want a victory. However the Robust Defence stance taken in the case so far leaves me less than confident 

Good to see at least we are not going at this alone as Kilmarnock are to appeal also

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Whilst I have accepted that we have been at fault in the way that we handled the protocols that theoretically were set out, I also think that we have been treated exceedingly harshly.

Jack Ross's interview was a fairly good external view of the position and if I was remotely involved with either Killie or Saints on this issue, I would say appeal and make sure you have good legal advice to back up your arguments.

I don't fear additional retribution, that would be vindictive in the extreme, but the SPFL make up their rules as they go along and they wouldn't have done this to the Glasgow twins, Aberdeen or Hibs, so gone on guys, give it your best legal challenge.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

40 minutes ago, alanb said:

JG says in B and W mag interview that a player caught it from his mother, who works as a carer.
I await with interest the line of defence used in the appeal process and want a victory. However the Robust Defence stance taken in the case so far leaves me less than confident 

Good to see at least we are not going at this alone as Kilmarnock are to appeal also

Surely they wouldn't appeal unless they had taken legal advice, but I guess the legal eagles on here will now better.  :whistle

Edited by pod
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Surely they wouldn't appeal unless they had taken legal advice, but I guess the legal eagles on here will now better.  :whistle
I would assume that the legal advice would include the facts that there is no way of knowing if the rule breaking contributed to the spread, no way of applying a probability to it and therefore no way of knowing whether the postponements were in any way related to the rule breaking. Assumptions are not proof and "likelihoods" need to be demonstrated, not just guessed at.

The fine is justified (for the rule breaking), the forfeits are not.

Also, the 3-0 awards punish other teams that have not been accused of anything.

This legal stuff is piss easy. [emoji38]
Link to comment
Share on other sites

I'd be happier about us paying the £40k fine now and having a suspended penalty of points deduction if we breach protocol. Killie would have missed more games had it not been for the timing of the international break and league cup games... they also had to lockdown but only missed 1 league game.

The rules are changing as the season goes on. The Hibs game went ahead because at that point there was no ruling that you had to have at least 1 fit goalie among 13 fit players. A few weeks after forcing us to play Hibs with a keeper who only just signed in time to appear on the team sheet!

Since we were investigated DUFC and Celtic have broken protocol for team photos and the SFA have been pulled up by UEFA over Scotland U21 breaches.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Derek McInnes has also spoken out: 

 

Aberdeen manager Derek McInnes has called for a Covid-19 compliance officer to be appointed to help ensure clubs are meeting safety protocols in Scottish football.

Kilmarnock and St Mirren were both punished last week for their games being postponed due to Covid-19 cases within the playing staff.

Both clubs were informed the postponed matches – two for Saints and one for Killie – would be forfeited as 3-0 defeats and were fined £40,000 each, suspended until June 30.

The punishment came after St Mirren and Kilmarnock admitted they had breached social distancing rules on buses and meals while some Saints players had shared cars to and from training.

McInnes believes forfeits are the last outcome any club in Scotland wants and has called for clubs to be given more support to ensure they are complying with the measures put in place.

He said:  “I feel any team that has to forfeit a game is the last scenario we want and it is harsh on Kilmarnock and St Mirren. I don’t know why they have come to that conclusion.

“I understand it’s a fine balancing act for the authorities and clubs need to be accountable, but I think this is a case of them wanting to show a firm hand.

“But I do think we’re learning all the time. We need somebody, some sort of compliance authority to drop in on training grounds without any announcement.”

McInnes has also raised his fears some social distancing measures at clubs do not meet the criteria laid out and believes more assistance is needed from the authorities to ensure clubs are fulfilling their obligations.

He said: “The Dundee United thing is a separate issue. I’m pretty sure they will come to regret the decision to have a team photo and I was surprised when I saw it.

“We’re all under pressure to make sure our players are looked after, but I have to say we have been to a couple of away grounds where we’ve felt we have been crammed in to a space where we have felt we are not socially distanced.

“We have been put more at risk and we can clearly do better, but the clubs have done brilliantly. I have to say that, when you think of the financial commitment we’ve had to make, without any help, to put these measures in place, has been massive.

“Clubs are doing a lot right, but clearly we’re not as right as we need to be.”

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

Loading...
×
×
  • Create New...