Let’s not speculate on when to resume this season, because we simply don’t know when it’s going to be safe. We have no idea when this horrible COVID-19 pandemic is going to show signs of slowing down.
And for that reason, it’s morally inexcusable to play football or perhaps even to set out an exact plan of when it’ll be back on the table…
After all, how can we know right now?
But there is nothing morally inexcusable about the following attitude: Let’s follow all guidelines, ensure others do the same, cross our fingers this ends quickly – and then, we’ll worry about football and finish this season.
That makes sense, right? After all – this Premier League season is 29 games in. Sky and BT Sports will be owed nearly £1bn in TV money if we cancel it. We can’t simply expunge history. Football is forever ongoing – there is never a definitive end point – so there is no need to cancel something that isn’t finished.
What doesn’t make any sense is the alarming demands of certain Premier League chiefs to end this season under the guise of morality.
Despite the most recent meeting in which there was a ‘100%’ confirmation to finish this term when possible, the vultures are starting to circle.
In The Athletic this morning, a boss of a Premier League club sanctimoniously peddled a rhetoric that the 2019/20 season should simply be cancelled for ethical reasons.
“You look at the people sitting around the Premier League table by Skype; their egos cannot sustain a mirror being held up to them,” they said. “The fact is they are not as important as a Tesco delivery driver at this time. We run a game. No more, no less. There is no place for sport at the moment.
“It’s absolutely clear what is going to happen. It’s a worldwide pandemic. You just start (the Premier League season) again and there are very few losers. Liverpool, I know. But in the grand scheme of things, honestly, it really doesn’t matter. You’ve just got to start again.”
It’s interesting how they accuse others of not being able to have a mirror held up to them, but ask David Ornstein to hide their name in his piece…
The purpose of this is glaringly obvious. It’s a blatant attempt to sway opinion towards a null and void campaign. And if you think the reason for this is an anonymous multi-millionaire’s worry for the Tesco delivery driver and not his own club you probably have a vested interest, too.
Part of their (fake) narrative is right. Football is only a game – and there are more important things going on right now that need to take precedent. For that reason, let’s not make any decisions until we know what’s going to happen long-term. The country is at standstill, so there’s no rush.
But what said executive is doing is shameless. It is in fact they who are trying to use the situation – and the situation is that people are dying and will continue to die – to their advantage. It’s not somebody from Liverpool, Sheffield United, Wolves, or any other club flying in 2019/20, is it?
We know who it is, but for legal reasons, will not say.
Of course, as Liverpool fans, we’re desperate for this campaign to finish. That’s obvious. But we’re not out here shouting for an immediate resumption for our own benefit. We accept the situation. We need to wait. It needs to be safe. But to sense a weakening of country spirit and feed these quotes to a journalist in an attempt to cancel this ‘season’ and simply start a different one at some point in the future is as audacious as it is callous.
Rant over.