Coronavirus: Uefa have made their decision, so what is the Premier League’s next move?
Like it or not, football is a waiting game for now, and it’s the only sensible route forward
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Your support makes all the difference.Only one thing is clear as football tries to cope with the coronaviris crisis: almost everyone is determined to complete the season. When and how are questions that no one can answer.
The Premier League are convening a conference call with all 20 clubs this morning. The English Football League (EFL) held a marathon meeting yesterday. Uefa and Fifa conducted their own conclaves earlier in the week. Everyone wants certainty and clarity, but events are changing so fast it is impossible to satisfy these demands.
For the most part, the game’s participants are eager to present a united front. One of the first tasks on the Premier League agenda will be to ensure there are no more ill-advised interventions like Karren Brady’s call to void the season. The West Ham United executive vice-chairman is not held in especially high regard by her peers and her newspaper column provoked Paul Barber, the Brighton & Hove Albion chief executive, to respond by saying it would be unfair to deny Liverpool the title.
The public spat was unseemly. It was sparked by Greg Clarke, the FA chairman, telling the Premier League that the campaign could not be completed. It will be rammed home to all concerned that talking without thinking should be avoided over the next few weeks.
The EFL yesterday had to soothe the fears of a number of clubs who were spooked by Brady’s comments. The entire game is jumpy. Most believe that wiping the season from the record books would compromise the integrity of the sport – and that is before the impact on the television deal is taken into account. That would effectively mean tearing up the TV contract.
There were lots of suggestions at the EFL get-together about how the schedule could be fulfilled, including a round-robin tournament at St George’s Park. That was among the ideas deemed unrealistic, but the message from the organisation’s headquarters in Preston is simple. Forget the fixture list and the calendar, it is time to think outside the box.
If and when the pandemic begins to lose its power, commence planning from that point. It is pointless to start before. Any dates, deadlines or strategies are artificial. The situation is too fluid and unpredictable.
There were EFL clubs who brought up ending the season now – in one case because they had scheduled work on the pitch for the summer – but that is the least likely scenario. The same message that finishing the campaign is the primary goal will come from the Premier League, even if the likes of West Ham, Arsenal and Tottenham would prefer to rewind the clock back to September and pretend the past seven months did not happen.
All parties would rather avoid the possibility of playing behind closed door, but – as unpalatable as that would be – it cannot be ruled out completely. Circumstances would need to change considerably for games in empty grounds to be an option. If the game’s administrators are committed to remote conferencing rather than gathering in one room in the immediate future, it is hard to see how they could instruct players and coaching staff to travel and mingle for matches.
Also, if it is unsafe for supporters to attend games, why would it be different for players? Many scenarios have been considered – widespread testing of teams for the virus, for example – but few satisfactory answers are available.
Very little is off the table at the moment. The least likely solution is that the Premier League stays as it is and Leeds United and West Bromwich Albion are promoted to form a 22-team division. One of the reasons the game is in this state is there is barely any capacity in the season to reschedule matches if something goes wrong. The workload is already a strain on players. There is little appetite for more league fixtures, even as a temporary measure.
Some will accuse the Premier League and the football authorities of a lack of leadership, but there is too little evidence available to make binding decisions. The vast majority of those involved in the sport have accepted that flexibility is the order of the day. Government advice has changed massively in the course of a week and could take another turn at any point.
Almost no one believes Uefa’s 30 June aspiration for the end of the season has any real meaning. The date did little more than cause confusion, with some interpreting it as the cut-off point for cancelling the truncated campaign. This is far from the truth. Europe’s ruling body would prefer all competitions to come to their natural conclusion, even if they run on into the autumn – or even beyond.
Like it or not, football is a waiting game for now. It’s the only sensible route forward.
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