Scottish football has been shut out of crunch talks with the UK government about how to bring the game safely back out of lockdown.
Officials from No.10 will this week hold conversations with the English Premier League, English Football League and senior medical advisers in an attempt to thrash out plans for safely re-starting major sporting events amid the coronavirus pandemic.
But, while a possible pathway and a potential timetable for football to be brought back out of cold storage is being worked on down south, there is growing concern on this side of the border that Scotland’s clubs are not involved in the planning and in danger of being left in the dark.
The news comes as Arsenal’s players become the first team in England to return to training and ambitious suggestions the current EPL season could be back up and running played out behind closed doors in a matter of weeks.
It’s understood the anomaly has already been brought to the attention of Scottish football’s Joint Response Group by at least one top flight club.
Scottish football crisis
But a source told us on Sunday night: “The problem is one of devolution. Any decisions about how sport survives and gets back up and running in this country must be made by the Scottish Government.
“It’s a crucial conversation to have because the threat level to Scottish football has reached an existential level.
“But while those talks are going on in England it appears our clubs are being left behind.”
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Record Sport understands SFA and SPFL bosses are awaiting communication from Holyrood this week on its plans to set up a similar dialogue.
But the Scottish Government has already declared that all football - including group training sessions - must remain on pause until June 10 at the earliest.
And another source said: “The Scottish parliament does appear to be out of sync with London where bringing back sport is concerned but the government are plugged into the conversations which are taking place with England’s football authorities and are aware of what is going on.
“It does feel as if they would be reluctant to rush through any such proposals because the emphasis is on saving lives and understandably so.
“But if football does get back up and running south of the border then obviously fans and clubs across Scotland will demand to know why it’s not happening up here.”
PM Boris Johnson has been briefed about the discussions with English football as well as with a host of other major sporting bodies which have been described by a source close to the plans as a “quickening of the pace”.
The specifics of each sport will be examined by health experts to determine a variety of protocols with some sports re-starting more quickly than others.
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But plans to play football behind closed doors - and help the English top flight avoid a bill of more than £1 billion for cancelling the current season - are thought to have reached an advanced strategical stage.
Our source added: “The sums of money involved on each side of the border is another factor to consider. In England they will do just about anything to get this season finished because the financial cost of not doing so is eye-watering.
“If it costs them millions of pounds to make grounds completely sterile and to pay for a quarter of a million testing kits then they probably think that would be money well spent. Scottish football might think differently.”