National clinical director Jason Leitch is hopeful crowds could return to Scottish football stadia in September.
Leitch, speaking on BBC Scotland’s Off the Ball, responded to a question from Aberdeen chairman Dave Cormack to indicate it was a possibility.
Cormack had asked whether clubs could be given an indicative start date for next season – suggesting September – to allow clubs to plan for the next campaign.
It would still be dependent on the levels of Covid-19 across Scotland but Leitch hopes the entirety of the population could be vaccinated by September.
He said: “It’s credible the game will return at each of its levels; crowds is Dave’s actual question. Crowds is much less predictable.
“I would hope by September – the whole country would be vaccinated, so nine million doses. That’s a huge logistical exercise. Then we’ll have to see what the virus does and if we’ve managed not to import the virus again, with travel restrictions so people are going to have to pay some cost to get more freedom.
“That’s why there’s crowds at the Australian Open tennis this week. They’ve paid a price of international travel in order to get domestic freedom.
“If we get all that right as a nation, that’s not just the government but also the people, then yes I think there could be crowds of some description in September.”
Aberdeen were one of the clubs in the top flight, along with Ross County, to allow supporters in earlier this season. Caley Thistle, Elgin City and a number of Highland League sides were also briefly permitted fans back in their grounds.
Leitch was also asked what it would take to allow Leagues One and Two to return to action.
All football below the Scottish Championship is currently suspended, however the 20 SPFL clubs in those two divisions have put a proposal to the game’s governing bodies to allow them to return to play by March.
Leitch added: “Prevalence, fundamentally, and travel. The vast majority of the conversations with the football authorities have been fantastic. Football has done really well – I’ve spent a lot of time with the youth side of Scottish football; we’ve done podcasts, videos, training manuals online for those who run youth football, it’s been terrific.
“To get all of that back, you need prevalence to fall for the football authorities to say it’s worth getting people, from say Dumfries up to Aberdeen or vice-versa. Those big long journeys are one of the things that put football off, particularly when we were in level four. It just felt too big a risk for people who had day jobs, in supermarkets or as teachers or police officers.
“We need the prevalence to come down for those leagues to return, right the way down to the seventh layer of Scottish football.”
