PL coaches: We can’t stop celebrations
Clubs fear Whitehall warning won’t work
PREMIER LEAGUE coaches fear they are powerless to stop players from breaching Covid restrictions during goal celebrations amid renewed warnings from the Government. Manchester City and Fulham were the latest clubs to be guilty of it last night when they had group hugs after goals by Phil Foden and Ivan Cavaleiro respectively. But City manager Pep Guardiola said: ‘I respect the protocols from the Premier League. I understand
completely what they are trying to do. But the moment you score a goal and one guy runs and the others don’t go to celebrate with him, it is weird and uncomfortable.
‘We are tested maybe five or six times in the last 10 days. Everyone is negative. We are outdoors where the virus is less aggressive. We will follow what the PL says but I don’t know if we will be able to do it.’
But Brighton manager Graham Potter said it was possible to adhere to the protocols, adding: ‘We have to change our thinking and change our behaviour to this new situation and that takes a bit of time.’
The managers’ comments came after Sports Minister Nigel Huddleston told footballers they must adhere to the strict Covid guidelines following numerous instances recently of group goal celebrations and managers and players shaking hands, with deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam backing calls for footballers to stop hugging.
But the general consensus among top-flight technical staff is that it is far-fetched to expect teammates to refrain fully from passionately celebrating goals in the heat of the moment.
Clubs have warned their squads to stay within the Premier League’s new bolstered guidelines, including maintaining social distancing when celebrating goals. And the league could impose sanctions on clubs whose players do not comply.
But senior technical staff members told Sportsmail yesterday that they expect their pleas to have minimal impact because players will naturally celebrate.
Crystal Palace manager Roy Hodgson said: ‘ People have ingrained habits when a goal is scored. The emotion and joy of that moment, there is a risk players will still run to each other. I don’t know what managers and coaches can do more than hammer home the messages and protocols.’
The football authorities are concerned that a failure to comply with regulations will intensify public pressure to call a second suspension to elite football.
In a Twitter post yesterday, Huddleston said: ‘Everyone in the country has had to change the way they interact with people and ways of working. Footballers are no exception. Covid-secure guidelines exist for football. Footballers must follow them and football authorities enforce them strictly.’
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters wrote to clubs on Tuesday to ‘stress the critical importance of adhering’ to the strengthened guidelines and reminded them they are ‘fortunate to be able to continue to play’.
League bosses are now under pressure to punish clubs for breaches, having put compliance officers — the so-called ‘snooper squad’ — in place to monitor and review conduct. Asked if it was time to issue ‘no kissing’ advice, Van-Tam told LBC radio: ‘I completely agree. We are in a very dangerous place now.
‘Every close human contact that is avoidable should be avoided because one in three of us will get the infection and have no symptoms at all. So on the football point and the sporting point, I do agree.’
Government ministers are still keen to avoid shutting down elite sport like they did last March but they are aware that continued flouting of rules weakens their case.
Health Secretary Matt Hancock said: ‘Elite sport is important. I know that the Premier League really think hard about this. It is important that it is carried out in a way that is respectful of the rules. I think that it’s important that everybody respects, not just the letter, but the spirit of the rules.’
Meanwhile, Sheffield Wednesday’s next two Championship fixtures have been postponed. A number of positive Covid tests has meant first-team players and staff must self-isolate.