Hearts chief Ann Budge has confirmed she will take legal action if the current league standings are final and her club are relegated to the Scottish Championship.

The current landscape of Scottish football is in limbo after the SPFL and SFA agreed to postpone fixtures indefinitely due to the deadly coronavirus outbreak. One potential solution to the shutdown could be to end the season as is which would see the Jambos relegated.

But Ms Budge has revealed she would look into the legalities of the league concluding now. "Well it depends on how you read the rules, and I don’t read the rules that way," she told Sky Sports.

"So I think if the season was deemed to be ended then you have to go back to the rules and the rules very, very clearly state that the competition comprises 38 games. Clearly we all know that we have not played 38 games so I don’t think it’s as simple as somebody can say ‘let’s just doom everything to be as it is and take it from there’. I don’t think that’s reasonable.

"I’d love to be able to finish the season but if we can’t then I think we need to be pragmatic about it and take a view on premature ending."

Asked directly if Hearts would look at a legal challenge, Budge said: "Yes, I would have to. Because I fundamentally disagree. There are so many options it's difficult to say 'I would do this or that'.

"I am not of a view that it’s a reasonable thing to do, nor can I see who would benefit. How does that help anybody? In a situation where we’re all confronting issues that nobody ever imagined we’d have to confront, who benefits? I just can’t get my head around it.

"I’ve already made my position known - in a non-confrontational manner I’d like to say - but I have put my arguments over."

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