ROARING UP TABLE

competition. Yet winning the title in such circumstances would tarnish the triumph somehow. No doubt.

I played through a large part of those 30 years when Liverpool were desperately trying to bring another league trophy home, so I know how much it means.

Every year that went by, the pressure got greater, the talk louder, the fans more desperate. It means so much… just not life and death.

For anyone arguing that Liverpool SHOULDN’T be champions, if the season isn’t completed, then look at their record. They’ve dropped five points all season. FIVE. Hell, I once scored 16 goals in a game for a schoolboy team I played in – got more than 100 goals in total if I remember correctly – and yet I’m pretty sure we dropped more than five points that season.

They are the worthiest of champions. It’s the greatest season ever in top-flight English football history. They are recordbreakers, and they are arguably the best team to have won the Premier League. And, yep, I’m saying they’ve won it.

They need two more wins to confirm it, but the reality is that, if City were to lose two more between now and the theoretical end of the season, the points Liverpool have now would be enough.

Having said all that, I hope the crisis sweeping our country and across Europe can be brought under control and the authorities find a way to let sport continue.

There is a suggestion the season could be extended and games could be played behind closed doors and screened on television.

Of course, football should be played in front of fans. But, again, if it is safer to play without them – and safe to do it too – then it’s better that way.

There will be no European Championships this summer and it seems likely the Champions League and Europa League will be cancelled.

That gives space for the Premier League to wait things out.

Even if the season doesn’t resume until the summer, there would be time to get it completed… and if that means delaying the start of the next campaign, then that would be possible too.

I hope that happens.

I would hate to see an asterisk beside Liverpool’s title triumph in the record books – because it would tarnish it, even if it everyone knows they are worthy winners.

But it’s not just Liverpool. Those teams fighting to be promoted want the chance to make it happen. Those teams scrapping against relegation want it to be completed too. I hope they get the chance. And I hope everyone reading this stays safe and looks after themselves and their families.

AT the time of writing, we are still playing football here in Australia and we have assurances that fans attending our games do so in a safe environment.

My club Brisbane Roar is doing everything possible to take measures to combat the threat of the virus and we have been told by the authorities that, at this time, it is safe to continue.

It seems a little odd to be talking about football when there are bigger issues to contemplate, but it matters for many people.

So I’m not embarrassed to speak about my pride in how the team are performing. Since the turn of the year, we’ve lost two matches, both away to the top two sides in the A League and both by a very tight 1-0 scoreline.

We’re unbeaten at home in that period and our run has taken us right up into fourth place and in a position to make the play-offs.

That is a remarkable achievement and testimony to the hard work the players and staff have put in.

There’s more to come, too – because the more we work together, the better we get.