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

St Mirren boss Jim Goodwin believes it is “common sense” that Hearts are demoted to the Championship, albeit admitting it is unfair.

A decision on the future of the Scottish Premiership is expected before May 25 when the SPFL have to notify Uefa of how they intend to conclude the season.

The top flight will likely follow the Championship, League One and League Two in being terminated on the points-per-game system. A decision which was passed last month after the majority of clubs agreed with the SPFL’s resolution.

It will see Celtic crowned champions and Hearts demoted to the second tier, replaced by Dundee United who have already been named Championship winners.

While admitting it isn’t fair on Hearts with eight games remaining and the club four points from safety, Goodwin doesn’t expect the league to re-start. With that he understands why the Tynecastle side will be relegated.

He told talkSPORT: "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.

"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."

Goodwin also backed the decision to scrap any potential league reconstruction.

"I think it's an extremely difficult situation for everyone involved,” he said. 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.

"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.”

He added: “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."