FOOTBALL CAUGHT BY SURPRISE

MAYBE now football sees its error in postponing the schedule, with some marquee fixtures under threat this weekend, too.

By making the game expendable it is left open to outside pressure. Fixtures at Chelsea and Manchester United have now fallen.

Yet the Queen was 96. Her passing was not unanticipated. It is not unthinkable that amid Operation London Bridge football could have come up with a direct plan of action to be implemented with minimal need for meetings and discussion. It could even have been run past the Government and the Palace for approval. Instead, it was caught by surprise.