Ferguson: Teams will be destroyed

PETERBOROUGH manager Darren Ferguson said teams were going to get ‘destroyed’ by Covid just as the EFL ruled out a circuit breaker to stem the virus.

Ferguson, son of former Manchester United manager Sir Alex, revealed he was missing four players struck down by the illness yesterday. He said that, unless something is done soon to address to the situation, then football teams could be decimated by the pandemic.

‘We’ve had four players affected. If the games are going to be continuing, then teams are going to get destroyed,’ stressed Ferguson. ‘Just because you play football doesn’t mean you’re immune to the virus, as we’ve seen.’

English Football League (EFL) chairman Rick Parry, however, ruled out a circuit breaker to momentarily suspend the season because of a surge in Covid cases.

The emergence of the Omicron variant has wreaked havoc with the English football calendar with 19 matches postponed in the EFL alone this weekend.

Five of the six Premier League games scheduled for yesterday were also called off. Speaking to the BBC, Parry acknowledged that the ‘health and welfare of players, staff and spectators’ was the priority but said pausing the season was not the answer.

‘We’ve got to stick together, stay calm and keep making balanced decisions on the basis of the latest information,’ Parry added.

‘We wondered if a short sharp circuit breaker this weekend would help but, frankly, it wouldn’t.

‘There is no science to suggest it would help and, if you look at the geographical spread, there are areas where games can go ahead and where they can’t.’