SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan last night issued a call for unity among member clubs after Rangers’ bid to force an inquiry into last month’s vote to end the season failed yesterday.
The Gers propsed a resolution, backed by Hearts and Stranraer, for an independent inquiry into the league’s handling of the vote to end the lower league campaign early but failed to gain the 75% needed after only 13 of the 42 member clubs voted in favour of an investigation.
Two clubs abstained from voting while 27 voted against the move.
The 75% threshold failed in all three sections with only four (33%) of the 12 Premiership clubs backing the move.
Caley Thistle were the only Championship club to support the resolution with the other nine clubs voting against while eight clubs (40%) from Leagues 1 and 2 came out in support with 10 against and two abstaining.
Following the video conference at the extraordinary general meeting MacLennan urged clubs to respect the result and called for a united effort to focus on bringing football back as soon as can be done safely.
He said: “The last few weeks have been bruising ones for many people in our game. Far too many words have been spoken and written which have sown anger and division amongst clubs. That is a matter of the deepest regret to very many people in our game, myself included.
“I know those who proposed this resolution will be disappointed, but I trust that everyone involved, on both sides of this argument, will now respect the clear, democratic and decisive result we have seen today and allow our game to move forward together.
“The overwhelming majority of clubs voted to oppose this resolution and it’s now incumbent on all clubs to put their differences aside, otherwise we will all suffer together.
“I have taken careful note of the concerns expressed by the minority of clubs which voted in favour and when we are back to playing football in a safe environment, I will bring clubs together to discuss the lessons learned.
“Every single one of us understands that the Covid-19 pandemic has brought huge challenges for our game, which we must overcome soon if we are to save all 42 clubs and restart the sport we all love.
“That is a daunting prospect in its own right – one of the gravest our sport has faced and it’s no exaggeration to say that it threatens the very existence of many of the SPFL’s clubs if we get it wrong.
“If Scottish football is to survive this, we simply must unite and use the enormous talents, resources and creativity at our collective disposal to rescue our game.”
Both Hearts and Partick Thistle have publicly stated they will consider taking legal action as they face relegation following the controversial vote but MacLennan, while not naming the clubs, has urged them to reconsider.
He said: “We simply cannot afford the distraction of further infighting or legal challenges.
“Time is short. In reality, we must do everything humanly possible to get games back up and running by the end of July.
“I’m sure we can all agree that the quicker we get back to playing football, the better.”
