Allardyce calls for football to stop amid rising cases
Former Sunderland manager Sam Allardyce says a two-week football circuit breaker is the ‘right thing’ to do – as COVID cases in and out of the game continue to rise.
Allardyce, now in charge of Premier League side West Brom, was quizzed on reports that a two-week‘ circuit breaker’ s top page to the game is being considered.
The suggestion comes after a number of games at all levels of football have been postponed over the festive period owing to outbreaks of Covid-19.
In League One, half of the fixtures scheduled for December 26 and 29 were unable to be fulfilled after several clubs–including Sunderland – saw players and staff return positive cases.
Further up the pyramid, Manchester City and Sheffield United have both seen outbreaks over the course of the last week.
And Allardyce admits he is ‘concerned’ by the spread of the new variant of the virus, and believes a temporary stoppage to the game is the right thing to do under the circumstances.
He told the BBC: “I'm very concerned for myself and football in general.
"Everyone' s safety is more important than anything else.
"When I listen to the news that the variant virus transmits quicker than the original virus, we can only do the right thing, which is have a circuit break.
"I am 66 years old and the last thing I want to do is catch Covid.
"As much as we're getting tested - we had one positive this week - it seems to be creeping round.
"No matter how hard we try, no matter how many times we get tested, how we wear our masks, how we sanitise our hands, we're still catching a lot infections round the country.
"If that helps[ circuit breaker], let's do it and let the season run a little longer when we get through it."
Manchester United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was less keen on the suggestion.
"I can' t see the benefit in having a circuit break, whatever it' s going to be called,” he admitted.
"Because when are we going to play the games?
"We all know this year has been so difficult, but I don't think stopping the games is going to make a big, big change.”