According to the Sun, a new ‘masterplan’ has been proposed by ‘a section of Premier League clubs’ in a bid to complete the remainder of the 2019/20 season BEHIND CLOSED DOORS.
The report states that measures will be in place to ensure each of the remaining 92 Premier League fixtures would be played behind closed doors, with every game to be held at one of THREE unnamed venues in the Midlands and broadcast live on TV.
Here is a snippet from Alan Nixon’s latest piece for The Sun – revealing the radical plan that will be suggested to Premier League chiefs tomorrow:
‘Premier League clubs fear England could be the one country unable to fulfil their fixtures.
‘And their masterplan is to play all of the remaining 92 games BEHIND CLOSED DOORS with every game in neutral venues at a separate time, live on TV.
‘The proposal offered by a section of Premier League clubs would see two or three grounds host the games, most likely in the Midlands.
‘The League’s big guns spoke to Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin as they have more matches left to play than the likes of Italy and Spain.
‘Clubs will offer up their revolutionary proposal at a crunch Premier League meeting tomorrow.
‘Grounds could even stage MORE than one game a day with teams playing every THREE DAYS in a race to pack in the fixtures, if and when the government grant approval.‘
To me, these ideas seem a little far-fetched in comparison the where we actually stand in the coronavirus crisis.
The postponement of EURO 2020 has given all continental leagues breathing space, allowing them to continue their season throughout the summer without too much disruption to next year’s campaign – this is what I feel would be a better option.
Wayne Rooney recently came up with an idea that I feel we could actually use as a blueprint. He spoke of how a positive silver lining can be drawn from the pandemic in regards to the World Cup in Qatar 2022, saying that now is the chance to reschedule our fixture list for a couple of years in alignment with the winter World Cup, something the Premier League are yet to do.
Using Rooney’s approach, as well as playing out the remainder of the season in the summer months, is the logical and pragmatic solution to solving the issue of football in my opinion.
Perhaps there is some truth in The Sun’s article – that would certainly be a first – but I feel that those proposals are slightly ‘knee-jerky’ for the present time, especially considering there is now a vacant summer schedule left to fill.
That said, it does feel like behind closed doors football may be the only option if the coronavirus pandemic fails to slow down over the coming weeks and months.
