Derek Adams has been on the outside of Scottish football, looking in, for six years now.

Keeping a finger on the pulse amid the coronavirus crisis has been important for the former Ross County manager, who now believes the SPFL should declare the Premiership null and void.

Sporting integrity has been the buzz words for club chiefs around the country with something to lose. Adams, though, is not one of those people. Currently working in England's League Two with Morecambe, the 44-year-old does not have a dog in the fight.

That has not stopped him feeling sympathy for Hearts, who face relegation should the league be concluded prematurely. Nor has it prevented him from weighing up the reconstruction argument - and recalling a previous moment in history when his then Staggies side voted against plans. A decision he believes most clubs may come to once again when any proposal is placed in front of them.

"In every league, everyone would like to finish the season if possible," Adams told Herald and Times Sport. "But if it's going to carry on past the end of June, it's highly difficult to do that. The SPFL have taken a decision at this moment in time to conclude the Championship, League One and League Two, they've voted on that. And I'd probably have to say that the Premiership should finish up as well.

"I don't think it's fair that Hearts are relegated, from a sporting integrity standpoint, because the season finishes after 38 games. That's what everyone buys into at the start of the season.

"For me I think the season should be null and void but I know, financially, that can cause impacts further down the line. But I do think it's a fairer way of doing things. Where the season would start again next year, the same teams, same European places as it was at the start of this season.

"I also don't see league reconstruction being part of it. I can see why it's the best way forward for some teams but financially it might not be the best for all teams. I can see why some would want to see a 14 team league, I was part of Ross County when we voted against league restructuring because we were voting in a scenario where the bottom four teams in the Premiership would play the top four and there'd be a playoff for a position in the Premiership. We didn't think that was fair.

"We were 11th after 22 games in that season, we voted against and ended up finishing fifth. Ross County wouldn't be in the position they are today in the Premiership, or as financially well off, if they had voted for it."

Adams has worked minor miracles at Morecambe since taking over at the helm in November. Having opened up a whopping ten point gap between his own side and Stevenage at the bottom of the table, he considers his time at Globe Arena a success so far. But it could have been so much different for the manager who spent the majority of his playing career starring in Scotland's top flight.

When Ann Budge called his agent after Craig Levein was sacked by Hearts, Adams - at any other moment in his life - would have jumped at the opportunity to discuss the role. However, his own moral compass wouldn't allow it as he sat in Morecambe's stadium ready to join, having shook on a gentleman's agreement.

"I joined in November and we were bottom of the league when I joined," he said. "It's always challenging when you're down the bottom because there are a lot of difficult games.

"The full focus was getting clear of the relegation zone because it's so important to stay in the football league. We've given it a very good go and the players we brought in January have helped us along with the lads already there. We changed the style of play to enable us to get the points we needed to stay in the division.

"On the Hearts situation, at that moment in time I'd given Morecambe my word that I was going to be their manager and they had offered me the job. I hadn't put pen to paper when I got the phone call [from Budge], but I think it was the only right thing for me to do at that time. It just happened to be that I wanted to get back into English football. But if you look at Hearts they're such an old fashioned, ambitious club that I'd always like to go to myself.

"But I had no choice, in my own head, than to do the right thing and go for Morecambe. I'm definitely surprised to see where Hearts have ended up this season. If the league finishes and they do play the rest of the fixtures, they've got an opportunity to get out of it. I think they've got a good enough squad to get out of the position they're in, which is what they'll obviously be trying to do."

Like Scotland, the English Football League is also in limbo with regards to what to do next. Adams's Shrimps have a handful of players out of contract in the summer and loans expiring.

Stressful, then, for the boss - but he has urged league chiefs to do the right thing and call it quits to allow teams to prepare for next term. He added: "There are a lot of players out of contract at the end of June and managers want to try and get their focus on the end of this season or focus on the start of a new season. Until we get a bit of clarity on it, which is difficult, it's difficult to make those decisions.

"I don't think we can continue this season. From a Morecambe point of view we've got three players on multiplicity contracts, five players on loan from other clubs. That's eight players, seven of whom are involved in my pool of 18 for a Saturday. Are we able to keep them, are we not, past these dates? Then you've got players out of contract. It's a whole host of different troubles only from a contract standpoint, that doesn't even look into the virus and social distancing.

"There's got to be a level of sporting integrity there, too. Clubs should really have the squad they had at the beginning of March going into the last games of the season.

"We've got to work on the scenario that the season will be finished, which is what we're doing. But we've also got to consider that it won't be and we have to plan for next season. We've got to cover all avenues."