PROJECT RESTART HITS BUFFERS

Bevington, Club England managing director at the FA for five years until 2015, believes the game is entering dangerous waters and must maintain its sporting and humanitarian integrity.

And if that means an indefinite hold on football until it’s safe to restart, the game’s rulers shouldn’t flinch in the face of tough decisions that could affect its morality.

Accusations of greed have been levelled at the sport in football’s desperation to resume. Project Restart is the focus – with clubs, players and millions of supporters all looking for clarity and a way forward amid the uncertainty of coronavirus.

But Bevington believes football’s next move is the biggest it may ever take.

“The wider issue is that with every decision football takes over the coming weeks and in the more distant future, the game has to show it’s empathetic to everything else that’s going on,” he said. “Football is the core part of many people’s lives but how the industry behaves over the next several months and beyond is vital. “It’s important we are in tune with reality. There have been huge numbers of people who have died and when we eventually come through this many will face life-changing economic challenges – we have to agents that they feel they are being put under intolerable pressure to save the game from financial meltdown by risking becoming infected by the coronavirus themselves.

And there is even the distinct possibility that a player could sue his club if, through training or during a match, he contracts the Covid-19 virus.

One worried Premier League official said: “There is a real fear among some of our players that their medical welfare is being put at risk.

“You could get some refusing to play and to hell with what is in their contract.

“The worst-case scenario is that a club could be faced with legal action if a player contracts the virus on club duty.

“In many ways it is the equivalent of sending them over the top from the trenches and to hell with the consequences.

“There has been an unease about football returning for some weeks.

“But the Premier League’s directive on the return to training brought it home to the players about the dangers they face.”

The news that three people at Bundesliga club Cologne have tested positive for the virus, after the first-team squad and backroom staff returned to training, has cranked up the fear factor in the game.

Clubs will be faced with the task of persuading their stars to finish the season over the course of the coming month.

Holland and France have both opted to void their campaigns in a bid to avoid further spikes in infection rates.

And that has prompted a number of players to ask for guidance from their own governments rather than relying on the information being relayed to them by the Premier League, their individual clubs and Westminster.

One source close to a foreign player said: “There is so much contradictory information at the moment that no one knows what to believe.

“Some players have gone back home for guidance from their own governments. And others have told their agents that they are worried about returning to play too soon.”

The Premier League is resolved to finishing the campaign – and have the backing of the government to press ahead with their plans.

That blueprint includes playing games behind closed doors in between eight and 10 “neutral” stadia around the country.

Players, coaches and staff will also have to undergo regular testing to ensure they are free from infection.

And it is possible that squads will be quarantined in hotels between matches.

Clubs are anxious to avoid having to return more than £750million in broadcast money.