Troubling times barely covers it this wretched COVID-19 virus has killed untold people and sadly the human cost won’t fully be known for some considerable time to come.
Football has been a significant loss from the rather long column of Things We Took For Granted and the speculation at this stage – truth be told – has probably bored you senseless.
What fans really want to know is when is the game coming back and what might we expect when it does?
For starters, the chances of an average supporter being able to set foot inside a stadium again in 2020 are pretty much zero. Below is an extract of the current state guidance, but as suggested in the Tweet that shares it, this is embarrassingly far fetched.
Phenomenal.
— Tony Yates, not an epidemiologist but (@t0nyyates) April 23, 2020
This person has never been to a football match or a gig. https://t.co/O18lShjGZk
Not only does the SAGE advice (I know, you couldn’t make it up) appear to have been composed by an Edwardian grandfather, it also supremely fails to address the equally sticky business of fans travelling to and from games. Even when imagining the downscaling of isolation, social distancing protocols are likely to remain in place for a considerable time, and these are essentially incompatible with how normal crowds behave in and around football stadia.
Indeed, one of the game’s top men in Spain, Jaume Roures, the head of Spanish media company Mediapro (which broadcasts La Liga) is saying that football will be behind closed doors until 2021 – because a vaccine is unlikely to be generally available for at least a year.
One step closer to the game being resumed would be the movement of players into what are effectively villages, as per World Cup arrangements. To prove that the isolation of teams was proven, and presumably a similar set up with officials. Once this or something like it was in place, at least a sense of direction could be established.
Whilst political hacks squawking at Ministers demanding an “exit strategy” is probably just as dishonest as much of their questioning, however, now would be a reasonable time for football’s chiefs to at least begin to share the options that being discussed. Fans are going to have to get used to a game that looks and feels very different from the one that was suspended.
Football has had more than a close shave here, and not only is it likely the parameters of transfer market be wholly rewritten, all clubs will want to be better prepared should they get hit again with a similar blow.
The sooner a strategy to start games behind closed doors can get green-lighted, the better.
I’ve mentioned this before. The PL are looking at a June return but behind closed doors. Info from a friend who works at a PL club. (Not Spurs)
La Liga have drawn up plans for training and means players won’t see their families for a month and will be tested daily. Players won’t be happy with that. Article is on the Guardian website, and in the same paper David Moyes seems sceptical about a restart. He doesn’t think it fair for players and staff to be tested every day when NHS staff and carers can’t get a test.
No crowds like the ufc did and will do again next month when they start again.. Just players and staff allowed there and everyone tested extensively. It is weird with no audience and no cheering, but surely the show must go on asap.. We can all watch from tvs and some money will still be coming in at least, I thought its the tv rights which makes the prem so lucrative.
No more throwing my arms around complete strangers when the Spurs score then. I think the only sporting events that gentleman has ever been to are polo at Hurlngham and a nice day out at the Henley Rowing Regatta or maybe watching Fred Perry win the mens singles title at Wimbledon.