BRUCE: I WARNED PREMIER LEAGUE NOT TO CUT COVID
STEVE BRUCE warned the Premier League they were taking a risk by reducing the number of Covid-19 tests to one a week. the Newcastle boss believes the mass outbreak within his club — leaving two staff members ‘very poorly’ — could have been avoided with additional testing. the 59-year-old voiced his concerns in a Premier League meeting at the start of the season when it was announced that the twiceweekly tests during Project
Restart would be cut to one. the Magpies had the option to fund extra testing themselves but did not do so. the club say they complied with the medical advice and protocols from the Premier League. But Bruce wants the mandatory testing to be increased after seeing the number of cases among his players and staff reach double figures in the past fortnight, causing the postponement of last weekend’s trip to aston Villa. ‘Personally, I made it clear to the Premier League when we had that meeting that I still think it should be twice a week,’ he said, with today’s visit of west Brom set to go ahead. ‘Unfortunately the doctors, who know more than me, decided that once a week was enough. I didn’t think it was right, but who the hell am I? ‘I’m a football manager trying to give my observations on it but certainly I felt a lot more secure being tested on a Monday and thursday than I did just once a week. I made it pretty clear to everybody concerned but they thought differently.’ Bruce added: ‘Yes (I would like to see Premier League tests increased again). when you’ve had what we’ve just had, can you do something better? ‘since we’ve had the outbreak we’re tested every three days. those tests have enabled us to get the training ground open and see no others with it. so it will probably be three times a week now for however long. we will monitor that.’ Newcastle’s training ground was shut for 10 days once they realised infected players, who had previously tested negative, had travelled with the squad for the 2-0 win at Crystal Palace two weeks ago. the Premier League agreed to postpone the game at Villa but Bruce says he now has enough players to field a team this afternoon. ‘when it does strike, you realise how quickly and easily it spreads,’ he said. ‘the quickness of it was scary. ‘Let’s not forget that one or two of the players have been really fatigued with it and two of my staff are really poorly — it’s a huge concern. ‘If you’d asked me last Monday, I wouldn’t think this game would have been on. we don’t really know how it spread that week. Is it the internationals coming back? we can’t prove anything at all. But
everyone has been tested twice since Monday and proved negative. So we’ve got enough to pick a team, but it was a significant number (who had the virus) and we will be without a big chunk of players, that’s for sure.’ The Premier League say the decision to reduce testing to once a week this season was based on scientific advice and have no plans to change this, though they are happy to provide additional testing when needed.