JOHN BARNES is certain that Rangers fans will call Celtic’s title a “tainted” one if they are handed the Scottish Premiership crown early.
But the former Hoops manager believes an early call to the season will not take the shine off yet another stunning campaign for the Parkhead side.
It remains to be seen whether Scotland’s top-flight will be decided on a points per game basis - but with Neil Lennon’s team currently 13 points clear at the summit - the destination of the trophy looks a certainty.
With plans of league reconstruction being axed, it also looks as though Hearts will be heading for relegation along with Partick Thistle and Stranraer.
And Barnes, who spent eight months in charge of Celtic, insists those who are facing the drop need to take it on the chin and face the facts during this uncertain period.
He said: “If Celtic win the title there has to be promotion and relegation, just like if you do the same thing in England and Liverpool get the title, there has to be promotion and relegation.
“You can’t arbitrarily decide that if a team in League Two 10 or 15 points clear might say ‘why aren’t we being promoted?’.
“Either you honour the league as it is, stopping the league therefore whoever is first wins the league and the bottom three go down and the top three in the next division come up.
“Or, you say we need to finish the season. As to whether it’s tainted, no because this is what it is.
“They’ll get the title whatever the situation and I don’t think anything about it is tainted because you will have deservedly won the league because that’s what was decided.
“Rangers fans will say that. If Liverpool win under the same circumstances maybe Manchester United fans will say that, what does that mean?
“Does that mean that it didn’t happen? Of course it happened. I don’t think you have to do that. You can finish the season, there’s not many games to go.
“Once you’re able to play again you can finish the season then start next season.”
Barnes also discussed how football can possibly be reintroduced into society – but he made it clear that Scotland faces a different problem to England.
He added: “You have to look at the situation in Scotland and the situation in England.
“They’re talking about behind closed doors for the Championship or lower leagues they may need a bailout because they rely heavily on gate receipts, where as the Premier League clubs don’t rely on gate receipts, Bournemouth play in front of 15,000 people, if they play in front of 15,000 or nobody that doesn’t impact on them financially because the money comes from the sponsorship and television money.
“If you are talking about the Premier League, I don’t think playing in front of empty stadiums is going to impact them that badly because of the television money.
“If you look lower down the divisions or in Scotland where they do rely on gate receipts, everybody has to cater to their own needs rather than thinking in Scotland it’s going to be a government bailout because if Partick Thistle play, they need that 5,000 people coming in to pay for them to survive, it’s not the situation where in England it will be the same thing.
“In England, it’s not the situation where a Premier League team may need a government bailout, because there’s nobody at the stadium, but a League Two team may need a bailout because they rely on the 5,000 people coming in.”
John Barnes was speaking to BonusCodeBets.co.uk
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