Premier League gets green light for June re-start
13 May, 2020
Premier League clubs received a boost with their hopes of completing the growing season on Monday as the federal government published a “roadmap” that could see the return of elite sport in England from June 1.
As the 20 English top-flight clubs met for further talks on “Project Restart”, ministers announced plans to help ease the coronavirus lockdown.
Under step two of this process, which cannot commence any earlier than June 1, sports will be allowed “to occur behind closed doors for broadcast, while avoiding the threat of large-scale social contact”.
Such events is only going to be allowed if enough progress is made in limiting the spread of the virus.
Premier League clubs have been planning for a go back to action no earlier than the week beginning June 8.
English top-flight clubs were talking on Monday in regards to a possible resumption despite growing disquiet among players over safety issues and divisions over proposals about how to finish the growing season.
Before the resumption of matches can be viewed as, protocols ought to be agreed on how to come back to group training safely and how the Premier League would deal with positive tests.
Brighton confirmed on Sunday that a third member of their squad had tested positive.
Cases have also been found in squads in Germany, where in fact the Bundesliga is due to restart this weekend, in addition to Italy, Spain and Portugal in recent days.
German second-tier side Dynamo Dresden located their entire squad into a 14-day quarantine on Saturday after discovering two new cases of the virus.
However, five La Liga players who tested positive have been quarantined at home, while their teammates continue steadily to train in preparation for a go back to action. - ‘We are simply people too’ -
In England, players have voiced their concerns at the prospect of being rushed back to training and, eventually, into playing a contact sport at a time when all of those other public remain encouraged to abide by social-distancing guidelines.
THE UNITED KINGDOM has been one of the worst-hit countries in the global pandemic, with the federal government officially recording almost 32,000 deaths of folks who had tested positive for COVID-19.
“We are just persons too,” tweeted Norwich midfielder Todd Cantwell on Sunday.
The Premier League’s desire to overcome so many obstacles to complete the campaign is rooted in economic necessity.
Clubs stand to lose around o1 billion ($1.2 billion) if the season isn't finished, o760 million of which originates from TV contracts that would be satisfied if games were played nowadays.
Financial worries are also creating divisions among the 20 top-flight clubs, that could end the probability of a go back to action.
A group of clubs near to the bottom of the table are fiercely opposed to plans to play the remaining 92 games at neutral venues.
“With all these compromises and health threats we are asked to complete a competition that bears no resemblance to the main one we started,” Watford’s chairman and leader Scott Duxbury told the club’s website.
“So is this fair? Is there any semblance of sporting integrity? Of course not.”
Executives at Brighton, West Ham and Aston Villa have also publicly opposed the neutral-venues plan with the suspicion they'll only back down when there is an agreement to scrap relegation this year.
However, that might lead to even more monetaray hardship to the league as a whole.
Broadcasters are not keen on spending vast sums for some glorified friendlies if the jeopardy of relegation be removed.
English Football League chairman Rick Parry suggested last week that legal action will be launched if promotion were denied to three clubs from the second-tier Championship.
Supporters face an extended wait to be permitted to attend matches, with the latest guidelines recognising a go back to sport before a crowd “may only be fully possible significantly later based on the reduction in amounts of infections”.
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