St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin says its 'common sense' that Hearts are demoted

Goodwin concedes that, while Hearts' pending relegation is cruel, he sees no other option, with clubs searching for clarity amid a global pandemic.

The Irishman had led the Buddies to ninth place in the Premiership before the Covid-19 outbreak prematurely halted the season.

Goodwin said he has no issue with Celtic, who were 13 points clear at the top, being declared champions and is adamant the time is now right to put the season to bed.

He told Jim White on talkSPORT: "We'd all love to get back playing and would all love to finish the season in the correct manner but I don't think that's possible.

"Quite simply, we don't have the resources available to us to purchase these testing kits. There's talks of each kit costing £150 and players need to get a couple of tests prior to each game. The resources in Scotland are nowhere in comparison to what the English clubs in the Premier League have to deal with.

"I can only give my opinion – and I must stress it is is my opinion and not the club's. In my opinion, I expect the league to be called as it is. Is it fair on the teams who are going to miss out, the likes of Hearts? Of course not.

"Rangers still believe, although they are 13 points behind, still believe they have got a chance of catching Celtic and stopping the nine in a row but, from my own point of view, common sense tells me that our league isn't going to be able to start.

"I expect a decision to be made towards the end of this month and for the league to be concluded.

"If you were to go on the current form and the way those two teams at the top are playing out, then I don't think anyone could deny Celtic are in a far better place than what Rangers were.

"Rangers, since the start of the year, have dropped something like 11 points more than what Celtic have, so Celtic are deservedly out in front, they have been the better team this season."

Goodwin added: "You can flip that on its head and look at the teams down near the bottom. Hearts have only won four games all season. We've got eight games left up here, Hearts would probably have had to win another four, possibly five games out of those eight. Of course it could have happened, none of us have a crystal ball, but it's highly unlikely that Rangers were going to catch Celtic and Hearts were going to have to have a hell of a turnaround in their current form to catch the teams above them.

"People might say it's easy for me to say because we're sitting ninth and are safe and none of it really involves us but I have to take a common sense approach to it."

League reconstruction talks fell through last week when Premiership clubs decided they didn't have enough support.

And Goodwin reckons that, despite it being unfortunate for the likes of Hearts, shelving those talks is the best result for Scottish football.

He added: "I think it's an extremely difficult situation for everyone involved. There's always going to be some member clubs disappointed and obviously the ones effected most are the ones who are going to be relegated.

"Hearts are sitting bottom, they're a massive club, we certainly don't want to lose big clubs out of the league but that looks like how it's going to go. There are other teams who are in the league below, Partick Thistle for instance, who are a decent-sized club in Scotland who actually have a game in hand on the team above them and are only two points behind and they look like they're going to find themselves relegated from the Championship.

"There's no easy outcome here and there is unfortunately going to be winners and losers. There was a big discussion regarding reconstruction of the league but that fell down last week. They decided they weren't going to get enough votes, which I personally think is the right decision at the time because there isn't a great deal wrong with our game up here with regards to the way leagues are constructed.

"It's a difficult situation. Is it fair on teams getting relegated? Of course it's not but I think it would be hard to deny the likes of Celtic and Dundee United in the Championship the league title when they are so far in front."

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