Peterhead manager Jim McInally is optimistic about the lower league seasons being completed.
Earlier this month football in Scotland below the Championship was suspended by the SFA and Scottish Government until the start of next month at the earliest.
This week it was announced that lockdown measures across the country will continue until mid-February.
But there has yet to be any update regarding the pause on the lower leagues, the Premiership and Championship have continued with clubs conducting Covid-19 tests.
One of the arguments against the lower leagues continuing was the lack of testing and part-time clubs being unable to operate in supposed bubbles like their counterparts at a higher level.
That’s something McInally has been critical of, but whether it is at the beginning of next month or further down the line, the Blue Toon boss is hopeful about this season being restarted and completed.
Scotland’s longest-serving manager, said: “I don’t see why this season shouldn’t finish. If this decision had just been made by the Scottish Government, I would have been more doubtful.
“But the SFA have been heavily involved in the decision and it would be pretty galling if the season wasn’t to restart again.
“One of the main reasons for the pause was they didn’t want us travelling around the country untested.
“I’ve said before that I felt that was nonsense and the argument doesn’t stand up and even more so now when the tested players have been told not to celebrate goals.
“That tells you they don’t think the tested players are sterile.
“If that was one of the main arguments for stopping us, I don’t think it stands up and I’m pretty sure we’d have a good fight on our hands.”
Right time for break
With the coronavirus escalating across Scotland, McInally was in favour of football being paused in January, but felt it should have happened at all levels.
McInally added: “I thought we should have had a break anyway, but, when you look at the weather over the last couple of weeks and again this week, it’s probably been a wee bit of blessing because games would have been postponed.
“I know for some of the teams who were behind before the suspension, it might be a bit of a burden, but I don’t think it’s been the worst thing in the world.
“The only thing that annoyed me was the every league should have stopped and that didn’t happen.”
Vaccine optimism
The rollout of Covid-19 vaccines also give McInally hope when it comes to football resuming as vulnerable and elderly people and key workers across the country receive the jab.
He said: “With so many more people getting vaccinated now it becomes less of an excuse with every week that goes by for keeping football stopped.
“There’s still another couple of weeks at least and in that period you would expect things to start getting a bit better again.
“So when I consider all that I’m optimistic. I might be off my head thinking that, but I am optimistic about the season restarting and being finished.
“We’ll have to wait and see what happens, but I think now we are in the home straight and hopefully things will improve soon.”
