The return of football is very much upon us and the return of the Premier League brings with it a number of factors to consider. Foremost of which is the health and safety of all those involved. The task isn’t a daunting one.
Fans are to be removed from the equation, and rightly so, at least until a vaccine has been approved for common use. For the players, and officials, the proposed strategy is straightforward enough. The teams will be moved from their individual homes into camps within various venues including entire hotels or as with Spurs, Hotspur Way.
Living and training in controlled environments, these COVID-19 negative players will exist in a manner no stranger than if they were at the World cup for their countries.
Martin Lipton and Dave Fraser for The Sun believe that the final games could take place on June 12th all being well.
The police are requesting that the chosen stadiums be away from congested urban areas, if possible, which makes Wembley an obvious favourite, and the London Stadium, neither of which are particularly great venues even when packed to the rafters. Indeed, it might be an idea to simply cordon off neighbouring streets during games and arrest on sight anyone daft enough to show up – and idea already discussed by Tottenham.
When will a decision be made? The government are currently drawing up a plan for a loosening of the lockdown, and once that is done, the Premier will speak to the sports’ stakeholders once again.
The Tottenham stadium is ideal in every respect, and a summer of football there (even if it doesn’t actually feature Spurs) will be a welcome sight after so many weeks of doom and gloom.