Ross County manager Malky Mackay is not convinced Scottish football crowd restrictions will be lifted come the end of the rearranged winter break.
The SPFL have confirmed the Premiership break has been brought forward, and will start after Sunday’s Boxing Day fixtures.
Two rounds of fixtures have been rearranged, with County returning to action at home to Motherwell on January 18.
It follows Scottish government Covid restrictions which start from Sunday, that limit the capacity at football matches to 500.
Mackay does not believe the measures will permit full capacity crowds come the middle of next month.
He said: “We are all in the same boat – it’s a very fluid situation between government and the Joint Response Group.
“The 12 chairmen got together over the last couple of days and it’s a decision that has been taken. I know there were two or three options.
“I think the SPFL board have advised well as had Boxing Day gone, there is not another slot to put that game. There are two spaces for the other two games.
“Overall, my own opinion is that it might be a while before you see big crowds in stadia again. I don’t see governments changing that for a while, so we are going to have to be doing this anyway.
“I get why the break was brought forward, but in three weeks’ time is everybody going to be back in stadia again? I don’t think so.
“We have to make the best of it, have the break, but then I think we will be going into fairly empty stadiums after that unfortunately.”
County moved out of the relegation zone with a fine 2-1 victory at St Johnstone, with Ross Callachan netting a second half winner.
The result moves County into 10th in the league, four points above bottom-placed Saints
Mackay was thrilled with the result, which sets the Dingwall men up for their final match of 2021 at Hearts on Sunday.
He added: “I was absolutely buzzing for the 300 fans we had down. It was fantastic to have that amount of fans there two days before Christmas.
“It’s a huge win. It’s never an easy place to come even though they are on a bit of a run at the moment but Callum is a good manager and this is a good team that doesn’t lose many goals.
“We were here a few weeks ago when it was rained off so I’m delighted we came and played the way we did. On another day we put the game to bed. We’ve hit the post, bar and had 20 shots.
“But we didn’t put it to bed which allows them that last five minutes where we had to defend well which we did. I’m delighted with the application and the spirit in that group of players.
“That’s two losses in nine to the Old Firm and we didn’t let any of those dent our confidence.
“In terms of how we played it was as complete a performance as we’ve had, maybe barring the Dundee game where we took our chances.
“At half-time I told them the challenge was to keep winning our first and second balls. That would give us more openings. I thought we passed it really well in the second half.”