Peterhead manager Jim McInally believes it’s time to call off the lower league seasons after the extension of the suspension of football below the Championship.
The SFA have ruled that football in Scotland below the second tier will remain in cold storage until at least February 14.
With the country still in lockdown, McInally finds it increasingly difficult to see when League One and Two could resume and when the 27-game campaigns could be completed.
With the prospect of finishing what they started appearing increasingly unlikely and the fan lockout set to continue for some time, McInally believes things should be brought to a halt.
Scotland’s longest-serving manager said: “For me it’s a waste of time thinking of restarting. I just think it should be called a day and we should stop it now.
“The way it’s going I assume they’ll probably cut the league down to 18 games and we’ll have seven games to play.
“But I don’t think that’s something the clubs should agree to do, because an 18-game season isn’t acceptable really.
“The best thing in my opinion would be to null and void it if we’re not going to complete what we started.
“If they say it can be cut to 18 games then it’s means we’ve only got seven games left.
“There’s too many ifs and buts, there’s too many teams having to play catch-up and I think it’s a waste of time without fans anyway.
“Without fans and with no prospect of getting fans this season, I don’t see the point now.
“I don’t think anybody would have started if we’d known we wouldn’t get fans for the whole season.”
Earlier this month, the 20 League One and Two clubs submitted a return to playing document to the SFA, proposing clubs could return to training on February 15 and start games again on March 2.
The clubs also proposed the introduction of weekly Covid-19 testing, something the Premiership has been doing since last summer and something the Championship has had to start this month.
McInally believes football at all levels in Scotland should have been postponed, not just the lower leagues, and has been critical of the testing protocol put in at higher levels.
The Blue Toon boss added: “It was offered to the SFA with the proposal that was put forward (to extend the suspension until February 14).
“So once that was offered, they were always going to take it.
“I don’t see where the decision comes from, because football should be stopped at all levels in my opinion.
“The SFA have sold themselves out for money with pretentious testing protocol.
“There should be no football getting played at the minute – and that’s the bottom line for me.
“They’ve sold League One and Two out, and everything below that, to keep the Premiership and Championship going because of money with a pretentious testing system which is a lot of nonsense.
“I’ve said before and I still stand by it – the game should be stopped indefinitely for everybody.
“Whatever you think of Boris Johnson, the Scottish Government was calling for him to be banned from coming to Scotland earlier this week, because it wasn’t essential travel, yet we’ve still got football going on.
“When did football become more important than trying to get people vaccinated and these things?
“That’s just how I feel about it. The game should be stopped and I don’t think there’s an excuse to keep the game going, but they’ve done it.”
