Ross County boss Stuart Kettlewell fears for lower-league clubs in Scotland if a ban on supporters in grounds continues.
The Scottish Government pushed its indicative date for fans coming back into stadiums back from October 5 last week, due to a surge in Covid-19 cases in the country.
County and Aberdeen held test events last month where 300 fans were allowed into their grounds and Kettlewell feels they could have done similar in Dingwall last Sunday.
He also has great sympathy for Highland League clubs, who announced this week they will push the start of their season back from October 17 to November 28 at the earliest to allow supporters to be present. Kettlewell turned out for current Highland League champions Brora Rangers at the end of his playing career.
Kettlewell said: “It’s going to be massive. We’ve all spoken about it over the last seven days – we would all love a magic wand to wave and change the situation.
“In the short term the greatest fear is for the likes of the Highland League. The start of their season is going to be delayed by six weeks, which is definitely not good for anyone.
“We just have to hope that doesn’t filter through to the rest of the clubs, because it would be a nightmare scenario for me and us all to see anybody in financial disarray, just because of what’s happened with this pandemic. It’s outwith football’s control.
“We’re not in control of it, if we were supporters would be in and we would have the lower leagues started by now, hopefully doing it in a safe fashion.
“It’s outwith the possibilities of the world right now though, so let’s see how it develops over the coming week and see what the updates are from the Government to see if there is any change for football. It’s hard for me to say otherwise, but we hope that Highland League clubs, Lowland League clubs and everyone in Scottish football can get through it.”
Kettlewell also believes they could have held another test event against the Dons comfortably, based on the safety of the one against Celtic.
He added: “There’s no doubt that we would have been able to do it against Aberdeen again at the weekend, but that wasn’t our decision to make. We’ve been taking advice from the SFA, and them from the Government.
“We could have done it, and we probably could have added numbers on and still done it in a safe environment. I’m sure other clubs in the Premiership could have as well, Aberdeen proved that it could be done for them and when you bring some of the bigger stadiums into the mix it might even be easier to control it.
“The question isn’t about whether we can do it, it’s whether we’re allowed to do it.”
