Warring Premier League clubs will meet on Monday with tensions mounting over the divisive ‘Project Restart’ plan to finish the season amid the coronavirus crisis.
Premier League
chiefs hope to return to action in June, but that goal could be scuppered by an
internal battle between clubs fiercely protecting their own interests.
The Premier League
delayed their latest meeting until after British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s
address to the nation on Sunday.
But, for those
clubs and players concerned about the rush to return, Johnson’s admission that
the virus transmission rate is still too high to significantly ease Britain’s
lockdown until at least June 1 was hardly reassuring.
Johnson offered no
details about the Premier League’s short-term future and indicated that, while
the general population will be allowed to play sports from Wednesday, they must
do so only with those in their own households.
And the growing
unease about the Premier League’s desire to finish their remaining 92 fixtures
only increased on Sunday when Brighton admitted a third player in their squad
had contracted the virus.
The scheduled
return of Germany’s Bundesliga from May 16 had raised hopes that the Premier
League could follow suit, yet there are stark differences between the health crisis
in both countries.
Britain’s death
toll from the pandemic passed 30,000 this week to become the worst hit country
in Europe.
By contrast,
Germany has registered just over 7,000 deaths.
However, German
second tier club Dynamo Dresden have put their entire squad and coaching staff
into two-week isolation after two players tested positive for the virus.
Also on Sunday, La
Liga confirmed five unnamed players have the virus and will go into quarantine.
Brighton chief
executive Paul Barber has been one of the more vocal critics of the restart
scheme and he told the Mail on Sunday: “We have got to be careful that we do
not misstep here because if we do, it could ruin lives. It could cost lives.
And we cannot afford that.”
Testing and player
welfare remain major hurdles to overcome, with Norwich midfielder Todd Cantwell
summing up the feelings of worried players when he responded to the positive
test at Brighton by tweeting: “We are just people too”.
‘Huge challenge’
A lack of unity has
provoked another complication for the Premier League over the use of neutral
venues.
League chiefs
believe they will only get the government’s green light to restart if the
number of venues are limited to reduce the medical, police, security and
broadcast personnel required.
There are also
fears over fans congregating at home stadiums, even though the matches would be
played behind closed doors.
Leading the
resistence to neutral venues are clubs near the bottom of the table and at risk
of huge financial losses by dropping out of England’s lucrative top-flight.
Brighton had five
of their remaining nine games at home, while Aston Villa were due to play six
of their last 10 matches at Villa Park.
“What we can’t
accept is a fundamental change to the competition three-quarters of the way
through,” Barber said.
“That is not fair
and there is absolutely nobody who will convince me otherwise.”
Villa’s chief
executive Christian Purslow said giving up home advantage “is a massive
decision”.
Seven of the 20
top-flight clubs would need to officially reject neutral venues to stop the
plan going ahead, although it has been reported the issue won’t be put to a
vote on Monday.
The UEFA deadline
for restart proposals is May 25 and League Managers Association chief executive
Richard Bevan has warned a failure to reach consensus soon could see the season
cancelled.
Aware of the
animosity between clubs, Crystal Palace chairman Steve Parish conceded it won’t
be easy to restart in the current climate.
“It may prove
beyond us. We have huge challenges in order to get it back to complete the
season but we are planning on doing so,” Parish told the BBC.
“There are no easy
answers. We have to work through it as a collective. I think we will come out
with a consensus in the end.”