The Scottish Professional Football League 2020 - 2021
The voting that resulted in the 2019-20 season being curtailed early caused considerable anger, confusion and acrimony. Ultimately the decision rested on the vote of just one club, Dundee FC, whose ballot mysteriously went missing and was then reversed by the club chairman. Rangers called for an independent investigation into the SPFL Executive Committee's stewardship of the vote and the conduct of their Chief Executive, Neil Doncaster, but this failed to attract sufficient support as did the club's alternative plan to distribute prize money evenly. Hearts and Partick Thistle, who were relegated by the vote took their case to the law courts without success. A proposal by Hearts' Chairperson, Ann Budge, to restructure by expanding the Premiership to 14 clubs and admitting the champions of the Highland and Lowland Leagues to the lowest tier also failed to garner support. Ultimately clubs acted in their own narrow interests and another opportunity to address the uncompetitive nature of the Premiership and the decline in standards overall was lost.
All play-offs were cancelled for 2019-20 so promotion and relegation was confined to division winners and teams finishing last.
The Premiership restarted on 1 August with matches played behind closed doors. The lower divisions voted to reduce the number of games from 36 to 27 with teams playing each other three times, to reduce costs. The season kicked off 17 October.
