PFA chief suggests shorter matches
Taylor says players’ safety is paramount
LONDON: The head of the English Professional Footballers’ Association (PFA) has raised the possibility of playing shorter matches to lighten the load on players if the season can restart.
English clubs remain committed to completing the campaign despite severe concerns over player welfare.
Players could be tested up to three times a week and be forced to stay quarantined in hotels away from their families for a number of weeks to help limit the risk of them becoming infected with coronavirus.
With 92 matches in the Premier League season still to be played, players could have little preparatory time to work on their fitness in group training before being rushed back into playing twice a week.
Fifa has proposed increasing the number of substitutes allowed per side from three to five to also lessen the risk of fatigue and injuries for players on their return.
“Safety has to be paramount,” PFA chief executive Gordon Taylor told the BBC yesterday.
“We don’t know the future. What we do know is what propositions have been put, what ideas have been put, the possibility of having more substitutes, games possibly not being the full 45 minutes each way.
“There’s talks of neutral stadiums. There’s been lots of things being put forward.
“Try and wait and see what the proposals are, and then have the courtesy to let the managers and coaches and players also assimilate all those and come to a considered view.”
The Premier League’s “Project Restart” has been met with some resistance over plans for all remaining games to take place at up to 10 neutral venues.
The remaining matches would need to be played behind closed doors, but there are fears fans could congregate around stadiums.
Some top-flight clubs have argued that under those circumstances
there should be no relegation as the sporting integrity of the competition is compromised.
However, English Football League (EFL) chairman Rick Parry said denying promotion to three Championship clubs would end up in legal battles.
The EFL governs the three divisions immediately below English football’s top flight.
“The lawyers are going to get wealthy if that happens,” Parry told the Digital, Culture, Media and Sport committee yesterday.
“There would be a degree of outrage from a number of clubs in our Championship, and it would be a breach of the tripartite agreement.
“The safe answer is that it would get very messy. Our expectation is there would be three clubs promoted from the Championship.”
He also said EFL clubs are facing a “cash hole” of £200 million by September.
“We are heading for a financial hole of about 200 million, a cash hole we need to fill, clubs will need to fill...the cash hole towards autumn looks pretty grim,” said Parry.
Parry said it was “difficult to answer” how many clubs may go out of business if the game remained off the field for a longer period.
“Our objective, obviously, is to lose none,” he said, adding that: “We would like to emerge stronger, leaner and more efficient, with a proper reset post-Covid.”
On average Championship clubs spend more on wages than they earn in revenue, while spending on players and transfers across the three divisions has left clubs struggling for viability.
“We need a rescue package,” he said.