Professor Jason Leitch says 'too early' to talk of July return for football
- Published
SPFL chairman MacLennan said all efforts must focus on a return by the end of July
It is "too early" to talk about football resuming at the end of July, says the Scottish government's clinical director Professor Jason Leitch.
SPFL chairman Murdoch MacLennan said in a statement on Tuesday football "must do everything humanly possible" to do so.
Football is suspended until 10 June.
"I had a meeting with the leads of rugby, football and horse racing and we were not giving them dates," Prof Leitch said.
"What we were suggesting is that they should begin to come up with plans for their own sports about what it would mean at grassroots to start to bring football back.
"Then you work your way up to the professional game. The sports are all thinking about what that might look like."
The German Bundesliga is the first major top-flight division to return with games taking place across the country on Saturday.
Scottish football, though, has been suspended since 13 March with the potential for the 10 June date to be extended.
Asked if the resumption in Germany is giving false hope of a swift return to fans in Scotland, Professor Leitch responded: "Not false hope.
"But we've talked a number of times about the gradual return of every sector. Whether it's the football or rugby, oil and gas or marketing, whatever piece of Scotland's society you need to bring back.
"It'll be interesting to see what happens in Germany. They've opened a number of things in the last few weeks and then closed them down again.
"So this is not a smooth journey. Germany is huge and has regions and each of the regions is behaving slightly differently. We will watch with very very close interest with how they react to this."