Premier League: We will finish the season
training venues are being shut down.
Coward said: “Facility operators are making understandable decisions to close places on which our athletes rely to get themselves ready for the biggest test of their sporting lives.
“The pressure on people right now is too great and decisions have to be made soon.”
His verdict was echoed by British discus thrower
Jade Lally, an Olympic prospect. “I think the
IOC are being very insensitive,” she said. “I don’t know if blasé is the right word but they’re not thinking about things.
“They can’t tell us to
‘train as normal’ because nobody can train as normal. Literally nobody on the planet is training as they normally would. I don’t think it should go ahead as planned.”
Following the US swimming team’s call for a postponement, the powerful USA Track and Field is now calling for a delay. A spokeman said: “Moving forward in light of the current global situation would
PAUL JEWELL admits he is “frightened for the future”, with many football clubs in the lower reaches of the EFL haunted by the grim prospect of going into administration.
While the Premier League is ringfenced from the effects of coronavirus by its vast swathes of cash, it’s often a hand-to-mouth struggle for those further down the football food chain. Jewell, not be in the best interest of our athletes.” They have asked the US Olympic and Paralympic Committee to support a postponement. Norway and Slovenia have also taken that stance.
Another call came yesterday from Glen Mills, who trains British sprinter Zharnel Hughes and was for many years coach to Usain Bolt.
“It would be unprecedented to delay the Games but we are in unprecedented times,” said Mills. “Move everything up one year and then everything will eventually fall back into place.”
German football legend Paul Breitner, a
World Cup winner in 1974, believes going ahead in summer would also mean an
Olympics tainted by rampant doping.
“When I see these irresponsible neurotics from the IOC, it makes me sick,” said Breitner.
“At a time when all medical professionals are concentrating on Covid-19, what do they think will happen in Tokyo? It would be a festival of doping.”
On the flip side, the Olympics is by far the biggest and most complicated sports who once managed in the top flight with Bradford City, Wigan and Derby County, said: “We know the Premier League is awash with money and of course some of it could be handed down to the EFL but I can’t see it happening.”
Jewell is now in the thick of the survival struggle as event in the world, and re-arranging it will be much more difficult than delaying the Euro 2020 football tournament for 12 months.
Japan has a proud history of overcoming problems and dealing with crisis situations effectively. If any modern nation can host an Olympics from the current position of deep uncertainty and worry, it is the Japanese.
A fascinating perspective was given yesterday by another British sporting official, GB taekwondo performance director Gary Hall, who is in
Japan. He believes the prospect of the Games taking place as planned is 50-50 and has been impressed by what he has seen in the Far East.
“They’re obviously very nervous about the circumstances at the moment,” said Hall.
“But their preparations have been brilliant, and the venues and athletics village are outstanding. “I expected everything to be a bit more frenetic but they’re in a calm space, and if the Games go ahead they will be ready.
“Things are changing so rapidly around the world and hopefully it will run.
“But it can’t run at any cost, and the health and safety of athletes has to come first.” director of football at League Two Swindon Town and says gate money is the lifeblood of EFL clubs.
Jewell (right), 55, said: “In the old days they used to say that supporters paid the players’ wages but at the top level that is no longer the case, with the vast
MANCHESTER UNITED, Liverpool and Chelsea are among top Premier League clubs who could scale back transfer window spending because of coronavirus. Officials at some major clubs believe that spending what may be viewed as obscene amounts on players could cause a public backlash.
That could scupper United’s pursuit of £120million-rated Borussia Dortmund and England winger Jadon Sancho. Chelsea and Liverpool are also chasing Sancho, who turns 20 on Wednesday, but football’s spending will be under intense scrutiny when sport resumes. amounts of money from TV and sponsorship.
“At our level it’s completely different. Owners can’t keep on putting their hands into their pockets to pay wages for players and staff with nothing coming in. I can see clubs forced to go into administration through no fault of their own.” many weeks before there is a clear picture of the full impact in the UK – and after an emergency meeting last week the Premier League clubs said the season was shut down to April 30 at the earliest.
If it can resume then, or sometime in the following weeks, there is a growing consensus among the clubs that matches will have to be staged in empty grounds.
This is considered preferable to alternatives of the 2019-20 season being made null and void, or declaring the current League standings as the final positions in the table.
When a few matches in European club competition were played behind closed doors before the suspension of all football, it looked strange to TV viewers.
Premier League clubs hope there might be a very different psychology if the season starts again with these type of games, and that just being able to watch football once more will make millions enjoy watching live-streamed TV coverage.
Meanwhile, the coronavirus continues to impact on sport.
It was revealed yesterday that football legend Pele has gone into quarantine in Brazil because of fears for his health.
Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton said he had come out of one week of isolation, which he went into after meeting actor Idris Elba, who has tested positive.
“I have zero symptoms and it’s been 17 days since I saw Idris,” said Hamilton.
“I’ve been in touch with him and happy to hear he’s okay.
“I did speak to my doctor and doublechecked if I needed a test.
“But the truth is, there is a limited amount of tests available and there are people who need it more than I do.”