Leeann Dempster withdraws from SPFL reconstruction talks

Leeann Dempster has withdrawn from the SPFL’s reconstruction
group to focus on “the biggest issue facing our game”.

She took no part in the group’s first meeting which took
place remotely yesterday.

Ms Dempster said: “It’s important we plan for supporters to be back in stadiums.

“And we need to do that as safely as possible, while of
course considering things like social distancing and other elements, which we
need to get right. We know the challenges that are there.

“Matchday revenue and tickets etc is the majority of
the income streams. We need to try to protect that, but in a responsible way.
And it’s incumbent on clubs now to work together to make that happen.

“We don’t want to challenge government or health
officials.

We want to work in partnership to look at a plan that allows
us to get our stadia open as safely as we can.

“We need to make sure we are working with colleagues
and learning from other sports around the world who are perhaps a couple of
weeks or a month ahead of us.

“There is an opportunity for us to explore how to play
these matches and we need to be open-minded to that.

“There will come a point, however, when we
need to make a collective decision on how we end the season. At this moment in
time I don’t think we should be saying on a particular day the season is going
to be ‘called’.”