Premier League clubs 'want the season cancelled' in huge blow to Liverpool, Leeds United, Cardiff City and Swansea City
“We look like petulant, ridiculous children now. I passionately believe what we’re doing is wrong," said an insider
Sports News
Friday 27th March 2020
A number of Premier League clubs want the current season to end with immediate effect and replay it once it is safe to do so.
That is according to one senior figure at a club who claims it is morally wrong for the Premier League to be discussing playing behind closed doors while the coronavirus crisis continues to rock the country.
“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 told The Athletic.
“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.”
All professional football in England has been suspended until April 30 at the earliest due to the outbreak.
Should the Premier League move to cancel their season then the move would have huge ramifications on Liverpool who are only two wins away from being crowned champions.
Jurgen Klopp’s side are currently 25 points clear of second-placed Manchester City but plans to scrap the current campaign would completely derail their hopes of ending their 30-year long drought for a league title.
It would also have a huge knock-on effect to the Championship promotion and play-off race, with Leeds United and West Brom gunning for the two automatic spots, while Cardiff City and Swansea City are within a whisker of the play-offs.
Restarting the season would mean promotion hopefuls losing out on millions of pounds in revenue.
Another high-ranking club chief added: “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.
“This (COVID-19) is going to get worse here (in Britain), so it’s not about players returning to training. If we all stay at home and self-isolate for the next two, three months, we’re going to get through this quite simply.”
Before adding: “We look like petulant, ridiculous children now. I passionately believe what we’re doing is wrong.
“And I would like to think my colleagues now believe that as well, that the world has changed. It’s a scary place at the moment and we’ve got to treat it seriously.”
While one club director, according to the report, feels football has got its priorities all wrong at the minute.
“The position we’re taking is ridiculous,” he said. “There are such bigger issues to deal with yet every question is, ‘Will Liverpool be champions?’
“It really just doesn’t matter. In world history, this will be recorded as a very challenging time. There is a place for football and entertainment but that’s in a time when there are no troubles and there are no major issues that need to be dealt with.
“At a recent meeting, one club said, ‘Listen, I’m going to let my players go on holiday but if they get stuck because the situation changes, do you think the government will send private planes over to get them so they can play football?’ This is how disconnected and ludicrous they are.”
The next Premier League shareholders' meeting is scheduled for April 3 with a new date for its comeback expected to be announced after.
But The Athletic believe there are some clubs who have developed strong reservations about resuming due to Covid-19 and are leaning towards the season being re-run regardless of the consequences for clubs.
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