Football can’t come back soon enough for me, but only when it’s safe. Are we really at that point yet?

Mr Marmite.. Love him, hate him, you can’t ignore him

SAV: In this age of social distancing, is it realistic for football to be played when there is so much physical contact between athletes who are sweating?

TIM: There are too many unanswered questions. Apart from a rugby scrum or ruck, I can’t think of much more close contact than a defender breathing down your neck or a forward backing in. Then you have the inherently sweaty environment of the dressing room, where social distancing is near-impossible. Things like coming into contact with a goalkeeper’s gloves barely scratch the surface.

SAV: The German Bundesliga is going to restart later this month, so why can’t we do the same?

TIM: There was an article in the BMJ which said Germany’s number of cases could possibly be 10 times higher than initially reported. So I feel we have to stand back, learn from what they are doing and learn from any mistakes.

SAV: So if Project Restart was to go ahead, what measures would you want to see in place?

TIM: It’s not just a question of measures, protocols and bullet points. From my perspective, you have to reach a tipping point where the benefits of playing football again outweigh the risks. One way to look at it is to ask if you would be happy to let your son (or daughter) start playing football again now. As a country, we are not even out of lockdown yet.

SAV: I’m not convinced I would do that just yet. One pathway I would like to explore is this: If I was still playing, and I went down with a serious injury on the pitch during a game under

Project Restart, what would happen?

TIM: For something like a head injury, you would have medical teams involved in treating a badly-injured player and lifting him carefully on to a stretcher. There’s contact everywhere. All the ambulance staff, club medical staff and physios would have to be tested first. And then the injured player is likely to be taking up a hospital bed.

SAV: It seems impossible for footballers to maintain social distancing in all areas of their work – at set-pieces, contesting crosses, in the dressing room, on the team coach. When other people go back to work in offices and factories, they will be staying two metres apart.

TIM: Yes, people will ask why footballers should not have to maintain social distancing where everyone else is required to do it. What makes football such a special case?

SAV: What do you make of players being told to wear masks in training?

TIM: Wearing a mask is an admission of risk. And players wearing personal protection equipment are going to produce sub-optimal performances because their physical capacity may be reduced. That’s not going to be easy for managers to take into account. PPE is the last line of defence against a virus – but if it’s the last thing you can do to protect yourself, there are a lot of things above it. It doesn’t take a vivid imagination to envisage a mask being twisted or even ripped off if there is jostling going on at a set piece.

SAV: If my club doctor told me he thought it was safe to resume playing matches again, I would trust his judgement. Doctors and physios are the hub of a dressing room. They are the people who treat our injuries, our ailments, patch us up to play, and they are often a sounding board for our problems beyond the workplace. I just wondered what you thought of neutral grounds as ‘sterile’ environments – would they make any difference to the risk of infection?

TIM: When I was a club doctor, I always looked forward to certain fixtures because your opposite number would know the medical protocols inside out – where the defibrillators were stored, the nearest hospital for a head injury, every possible scenario. I would rather be fully responsible at my home ground and to trust that the away team doctor had the same intimate knowledge of the fastest access to local services at the away ground so my players got the best treatment.

SAV: We have heard a lot about lawyers getting involved if clubs sue the Premier League or the EFL because they are unhappy with the way this season is resolved, but what happens if a player catches the virus? Could he sue the doctors?

TIM: Insurance is a real minefield. If football was cleared to resume and a player tested positive, the authorities would come to me, as the doctor, and ask, “What did you base your evidence on when you said he was cleared to play?” As a doctor, it all comes back to you.

SAV: If mass testing is readily available, we are not putting too much strain on the NHS, and you believe the positives outweigh the risks so the season can be finished, should players self-isolate from their own families for the duration of the remaining nine-game period? Surely players would have to be tested every day? And what happens if just one of them tests positive?

TIM: The reality is that it would only take one player to contract Covid-19 and the whole stack of cards comes down. You cannot treat a positive test as if it was a physical injury. If he tests positive, everyone with whom he has come into contact is at risk of infection and must selfisolate. The season would have to be halted again.

SAV: Let’s finish on a more optimistic note: What are the positive aspects of bringing football back, especially in terms of people’s mental health? And we also know football contributes massively to the economy.

TIM: There will come a time, and hopefully before long, where the balance, in terms of public health, is in favour of football being played again. We have seen how much people miss it. It gives communities an identity and it channels people’s passion and energy.

SAV: I think every player will be missing the camaraderie, the respect, the dressing-room banter. And every supporter will be missing the thrill of seeing their team win a match and of celebrating with their mates. It can’t come back soon enough for me – but above all, it can only come back when it is safe to do so. And I’m not convinced we are there yet.