Week 18: STOP! In The Name Of Love

At the start of the coronavirus lockdown, I thought it was imperative that this current season was completed, come what may, and even if that extended into the autumn or beyond.

Even last week, with the benefit of much hindsight and looking at ‘Project Restart’ I admitted I didn’t have any answers; just that cancelling next season wasn’t one of them, as the devastation it would cause for clubs outside the Premier League would be something most couldn’t, and wouldn’t, ever recover from.

But just seven days after that, I’m now beginning to think that any restart this season isn’t the answer either. In fact, I’d say that I’d now advocate a move to finish this season straight away and throw all our efforts into making sure that the 2020/21 season can go ahead as close to normality as possible.

This season is forever tainted now anyway. There will always be an asterix against it, whatever takes place, but even if it did finish, I’m no longer sure that the benefits – if there are benefits – outweigh the negatives or even get close to prioritising next season instead. If we really love the game, then love has to be tough sometimes.

I read, as I was about to start this article, another one by a writer that said that even though it was probably wrong to say it, the resumption of Premier League games – even without fans – would still be a ‘guilty pleasure’ and something we would all enjoy. I really don’t think it would be.

There is a tiny novelty factor about games played behind closed doors, such as when home fans have been a bit naughty, but the reality is that they are rubbish in the main. With no atmosphere, singing, banter and just the shouting of players and coaches echoing around, they will not resemble anything like the football we know in the Premier League and, from a fan perspective, they’d arguably be better playing the remaining 92 games on FIFA, as that at least would be more realistic to the viewer.

But the authenticity is just one issue amongst many that seem to have risen from the woodwork over the weekend. Almost every stakeholder group have provided a level of opposition to restarting; maybe with the exception of the fans who seem to have accepted they won’t be a part of it in any way other than via their TV, laptop or phone screens.

Senior police management, for example, have shown concern about any resumption, even one behind closed doors. Officers say that matches will result in a surge in house parties, and even illegal openings of licensed premises, as fans gather to watch together. And also, what about the re-distribution of law enforcement and medical staff away from places that might need them more.

Then there are the clubs. Again, just concentrating on the Premier League (the situation is even more complicated and harder to resolve in the EFL) there are already wide divisions after the clubs were warned that any remaining matches would have be played in neutral stadiums. The vote to continue in this way is already on a ‘knife edge’ say people involved. A 14:6 majority is needed to push anything through.

Brighton, for one, thinks this affects the league’s integrity. Paul Barber, their chairman, said, “… the fixture list simply isn’t equally balanced at this stage of the season, and we didn’t play our first 29 matches of the season in this way. So, in our opinion one thing [the advantage of playing ‘away’ games at a neutral ground] doesn’t cancel out the other.”

The other problem is fairness. Some clubs with more ‘winnable’ home games to go will feel disadvantaged while rivals may benefit – for example if a club still had to play Liverpool and Manchester City away from home – by the changes.

Then there is the self-interest; inevitable and perhaps understandable, given the money involved. Aston Villa are, according to reports, the club who initiated or at least championed Project Restart, while West Ham, to name one, are in favour of ending the season now. But one glance at the currently suspended league table tells you why. And how is it possible to ever reach a consensus from that position?

One potential way to do that is to remove the threat of relegation, as some clubs near the bottom are open to. No surprises there either but if that was to be the case, then what would be the point?

The main point might be at the other end of the table. With Liverpool having waited so long, and being so far ahead, there is a certain cruelty to current proceedings that only Manchester United and Everton fans might enjoy. For others, it feels unpalatable and as Spurs’ Hugo Lloris put it, ‘It would be terrible if everything ended like that nine games before the end of the Premier League. It would also be cruel for Liverpool with the lead they have…[t]hey are almost champions. As with everyone, there would be a taste of unfinished business. In addition, we are entering the most exciting period, the most beautiful moment of the season. Nobody wants it to end like this.’

I’m one of them. I don’t want it to end like this. But none of us wanted this virus to hit the world in the first place. It’s cruel to deny Liverpool their moment but they’ve clearly won the title anyway and I’m not convinced that clinching the actual crown in an empty neutral ground would give them that much satisfaction; not to mention the risks that tens of thousands of fans gathering in the streets outside Anfield, or in the city centre, to celebrate, will pose.

And that’s the final and most poignant of the reasons why I just don’t think finishing this season is workable. The risks are just too great. Kilmarnock captain, Gary Dicker, whose wife works in a funeral home, said this weekend, “Players would understandably be concerned and I just don’t see how we can get back playing in Scotland this season. Unfortunately, I don’t think you can be 100 per cent safe for a very long time.’

One Premier League club so far has apparently informed its players that they are free to not play a game, or even the remainder of the season, if they do not feel comfortable. Others will want a level playing field and clubs will be even more argumentative if it’s one rule for them and another for others. And that’s before we bring up the minefield that is player contracts; surely the messiest part of this conundrum after 30 June.

We have barely mentioned fans so far but then, any practical short-term solution doesn’t include them either. Their safety has to be paramount, given that they won’t be as young, fit or have access to treatment and testing that footballers would have, so any fan involvement feels a long way off already so why risk the longer-term possibility of playing next season (even in a shorter timespan) properly by being reckless now?

The FA Chairman, Greg Clarke, seemed to sum things up nicely in a letter to the FA Governing Council. “The reality is that we just don’t know how things are going to pan out, but with social distancing in place for some time to come we do face substantial changes to the whole football ecosystem. For example it’s hard to foresee crowds of fans – who are the lifeblood of the game – returning to matches any time soon.”

Which means that the only reason to finish this season are about league placings, qualification for Europe and, naturally, money. Aside from Liverpool – where it feels pretty clean cut that the championship should be awarded under any circumstances – the issues are always going to be about who finishes where.

Champions League qualification will be high on the agenda, and it’s hard to see clubs in England accept current placings, or any pro-rata tallying of points per game etc without a fight. In other countries, some clubs – the big ones outside the qualification places, obviously – think that instead of the 19/20 league table, the performance over the last 5 years should be used instead to award places in the 2020/21 European competitions. ‘Why should a club qualify [for the Champions League] based on one great season?’ one asked in a spectacular failure to grasp sport, fairness or UEFA’s rules for the previous sixty seasons.

UEFA have, thankfully, resisted such overtures and insisted all will be decided on ‘sporting merit’ and although they are urging leagues to try to find an on-pitch conclusion, they are also seeing plenty of them decide to abandon their seasons already. And while the furore in Scotland has shown that nothing is easy when making decisions of such magnitude, that doesn’t mean we can avoid making them. Money, as often the case, will make it so much tougher in this country than most. Relegation is not just about losing face but losing revenues that are hard to survive without. In France, for example, they’ve have taken the decision to end the season but to let placings at the current time decide the club’s fates when it comes to relegation. But their clubs won’t be saying au revoir to a hundred million euros either.

In the EFL, the clubs vying for promotion aren’t going to let that be taken away without a lawsuit either. But if EPL relegation was voided this season, the only alternative is to have an expanded Premier League and damage the integrity for seasons to come instead; and at a time when we are trying to reduce the number of games, not increase them. But with such a large pot of gold to be had, even if a compromise was reached to allow Leeds and West Brom to go up, given their dominance up to now, what about the clubs in the play-off spots? And those in the bottom three of the Championship, top of League One and so on right down to Barrow, four points top of the National League.

That’s the only way I’d look to continue this season. After a final points tally had been agreed based on current games, I’d implement a play-off match system to decide placings where there are three points or less between clubs (but only where the placings determine qualification for Europe and promotion or relegation. A handful of games in the summer, under carefully controlled conditions and on neutral venues, could at least ensure that the key questions are answered on the field and not off it.

For everyone else, I think next season has to be the focus. We don’t know, as Greg Clarke says, what will happen with lockdowns, social distancing and group events in the foreseeable future. It may be, even as restrictions begin to be lifted, there still isn’t enough in place to guarantee safety or that a second COVID wave makes all of this moot. But let’s just say that it’s positive, and the virus is under enough control to begin again in September or close to that. Doesn’t that prospect make more sense than possibly throwing all the good work that’s been done down the drain so we can watch a few games in empty stadiums?

With a European Championship beginning mid-June, getting next season off to as prompt a start as possible (even if behind closed doors to begin with) is crucial and a step closer to a time when football is safe for players, officials, staff, emergency services and, of course, fans.

Besides, if a club wins a league, cup, promotion or avoids relegation and there is no one there to see and celebrate it; did it really happen? Because isn’t that what we all – clubs, players and fans – really love?

Or more to the point, was winning that way worth all that might come along with it?

words Darren Young, D3D4 Columnist