Aberdeen skipper Joe Lewis reckons now is the time to start planning for fans coming back to Scottish football stadiums.
Pleas from the SPFL and its chief executive Neil Doncaster to First Minister Nicola Sturgeon, for the return of fans to be accelerated, fell on deaf ears earlier this week.
The governing body’s stance has been backed by numerous clubs across the country as they look to stave off a deepening crisis come January.
Clubs have been without income streams from gate receipts since March, with little sign of that changing at present. Ross County and Inverness have had fans this month, while the Dons held a test event at Pittodrie earlier in the season.
Aberdeen FC backs @SPFL call for an emergency meeting with First Minister Nicola Sturgeon to end the lock-out of fans across the country.
Full details ⬇️
— Aberdeen FC (@AberdeenFC) November 25, 2020
Doncaster’s plea was based on Prime Minister Boris Johnson giving the go-ahead for a maximum of 4,000 fans to be allowed at sporting events in England. Sturgeon, however, said while she appreciated Doncaster’s position, she could not make exceptions for individual industries.
“The football clubs are wanting to get the ball rolling,” said Lewis. “I know Aberdeen have been one of the more vocal and rightly so, in my opinion. There needs to be some plan put in place now.
“It has down south in England, I can’t see why it wouldn’t be (in Scotland). Some sort of plan, so the clubs know where they stand, would be nice. The SPFL have released a statement which the club have fully-backed and hopefully we can get the ball rolling.
“The clubs won’t be making a massive amount of money because it’ll be season ticket holders that are let back in. But it’s the first step towards getting back to full capacity.”
The Highland League is also set to resume this weekend, with clubs in level one of Scotland’s coronavirus restrictions able to permit 300 supporters to attend.
Aberdeen have also had to contend with another Covid-19 setback over the last week, with Ross McCrorie, Connor McLennan and Lewis Ferguson having to isolate after returning from international duty.
Manager Derek McInnes was critical of the Scottish FA’s handling of the players, which saw three report back with positive tests. Chief executive Ian Maxwell, though, has issued an apology to the clubs affected.
“It’s very disappointing,” added Lewis. “The club do absolutely everything to the letter at the training ground. Everyone is in different changing rooms, individual seats in the dining room. Everything is done properly so if one person contracts Covid, no-one else has to isolate.
“It’s credit to the club and (director of football operations) Steven Gunn who’ve put those procedures in place. You hope that’s done elsewhere but it obviously wasn’t, which is disappointing.
“We went down to Hamilton in two buses – you want everyone together but we have the extra expense so everyone can be two metres away from each other. It’s disappointing but it’s up to the players that come in to deal with it.
“Everyone has said how strong our squad is – it’s up to us to show that now. We’ve got players who have come in and are playing in their strongest positions. It’s down to us to step up and prove they should have been in the team in the first place.”