SPFL chief executive Neil Doncaster has said that voiding the 2019/20 Scottish Premiership season was not an option that could be considered due to the fear of facing legal challenges.

While Doncaster said that the main reason for avoiding such a scenario was UEFA’s guidelines, which made it clear that European places must be handed out on sporting merit, he said there were a number of other considerations:

“UEFA have made it clear that clubs have to be put forward for Europe on sporting merit. If you voiding a league it’s quite hard to see how teams can be put forward on sporting merit. We feel deciding a league on a points per game basis is sporting merit.”

“There are all sorts of other factors. If it’s voided you would find a number of clubs and the league would face highly-damaging claims for a season that never happened. It could have led potentially to claims being made by partners of the league and of clubs themselves.”

The Championship, League One and League Two have already had their seasons ended following the controversial SPFL resolution voted through by the member clubs.

However, the decision over the Premiership campaign has been delayed. The SPFL will hold a meeting with the Scottish government early next week to assess whether a resumption of fixtures in the next couple of months is realistic.

If the advice goes against resuming the season, the top flight could well see their campaign ended as well, with positions being awarded on a points per game basis.