Project Restart’s biggest question remains unanswered – what if the season still doesn’t finish?

The prospect of curtailment remains too thorny an issue for Premier League clubs to agree upon

It is only a week now until the Premier League returns, with Aston Villa hosting Sheffield United at Villa Park before Manchester City play Arsenal at the Etihad. A three-month wait for the return of top-flight English football will have ended and the game’s most lucrative domestic league will be settling into its new normal.

But with just seven days to go, one of the biggest questions that has faced Project Restart from the outset remains unanswered. What if the season has to stop again? What if it still cannot be completed? What will happen with promotion, relegation and European qualification then?

At present, that is unclear. And though the subject will be discussed when Premier League stakeholders meet again on Thursday, given the divergent interests involved, do not expect any definitive answer soon. It appears more and more likely that next week’s restart will go ahead without an agreed plan on curtailment in place.

Instead, clubs appear happy to address the issue in full at a later stage and even then, only if a second lengthy stoppage appears inevitable.

On face value, this would appear to run contrary to the very guidelines that have allowed top-flight football to return. The Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport last month gave elite sport a green light to be played behind closed doors, subject to a number of minimum requirements.

One of those is an “agreed procedure” on how to “to modify, restrict, postpone or cancel” the competition if necessary. The DCMS, however, is understood to be relaxed about the Premier League’s stance and satisfied with their plan to hold an emergency meeting on the prospect of curtailment if the season stops again.

The Premier League’s position is a gamble but it is also a testament to the success of Project Restart thus far. The project is yet to hit one of its many potential roadblocks. The 6,000-odd individual Covid-19 tests on players and staff members that have been carried out to date have only returned 13 positive results.

Doubters are now believers. N’Golo Kanté had previously stayed away from Chelsea’s training ground due to concerns about becoming infected but returned to Cobham yesterday. Troy Deeney, the Watford captain and one of the most public sceptics of Project Restart, has had his fears allayed after talks with deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam.

The Premier League’s reward for that success is an ability to restart with confidence of finishing, put all hypotheticals to one side and avoid any unnecessary arguments. But the obvious risk is that the R number rises, lockdown is tightened and the top flight once again finds itself on indefinite hiatus, with even less time on their hands to settle the standings.

West Ham and Bournemouth are also struggling at the bottom (Getty Images)

Even in that scenario, they could get lucky. If a second postponement only came late in July, it may be that European qualification and the particularly thorny issue of relegation have already been settled. The Championship’s automatic promotion places may be decided too. Liverpool, surely, will have at least won their first league title in 30 years by then.

Yet when nine points separate 4th and 11th and only four between 15th and 19th, it is hard to imagine everything will soon be neatly wrapped up. The margins are close enough for any method of deciding the final standings to be contentious. Meanwhile, which clubs favour which methods will change with the league table over the coming weeks.

And even if 2019-20 can be completed and clubs avoid agreeing on curtailment, a time will come to discuss next season. That too is at risk, especially if there is a second wave of the virus in the autumn or winter. Postponing 2019-20 and the European Championships has already left precious little room for manoeuvre in 2020-21’s calendar.

For now, the Premier League, its clubs and its stakeholders can only hope that Project Restart continues to go to plan between now and the end of July. The alternative remains almost too messy, too complicated and too acrimonious to consider.