TOO MUCH TOO SOON?
Paul Lambert’s fears over Germany’s football restart
EUROPEAN football will take its first tentative steps towards a new normal as the Bundesliga restarts behind closed doors next weekend. Germany’s success in flattening the curve has emboldened Chancellor Angela Merkel to permit the country’s top two divisions to resume — but they will do so under tight and unprecedented restrictions.
Testing will be key, the numbers on site kept to a maximum of 300 people and stadia will be kept as sterile as possible.
And yet social-distancing measures will dissolve the moment the first whistle blows and the sweat and saliva of professional athletes starts to aerosolise. Irresolvably, football is a contact sport, one contracted tightly to the broadcast companies.
There have been strong objections. A statement released by a coalition of German supporters’ groups claimed the restart would make ‘a mockery of the rest of society’.
That certainly appeared to be a valid concern last night as seconddivision Dynamo Dresden went into a 14-day quarantine and said that they would not be able to fulfil next weekend’s opening game against Hannover 96 after two players tested positive for Covid-19.
However, Saturday’s Revierderby between Borussia Dortmund and Schalke is set to kick things off and viewing figures are likely to be huge.
Eager for his own fix of German football, Paul Lambert will tune in with a mixture of fascination and fear.
A long-standing Teutophile, the former Dortmund midfielder is glad it’s the Germans who are in charge of bringing football back.
But, as a serving manager, the former Celtic and Scotland captain remains acutely concerned about the potential consequences.
‘There are so many unanswered questions,’ says the Ipswich Town boss. ‘I don’t the think the German government would be relaxing the lockdown like this if they thought it was a high risk. So you have to go with that. They seem to have flattened the curve and there are financial reasons why they want to get the game restarted.
‘The Germans are second to none in terms of organisation but there will be trepidation among players and that’s why testing is paramount. It has to be spot on.
‘They are going to test everybody twice. And I don’t think they can afford for one player to contract this virus.’
Lambert maintains a hotline to Germany and speaks regularly to Michael Henke, who operated as assistant to Ottmar Hitzfeld during Champions League success at both Dortmund and Bayern.
Henke is now the sporting director at third-tier side Ingolstadt, who remain in a holding pattern while the bigger clubs prepare to get going.
For Lambert, whose Ipswich squad is on furlough under the government’s Job Retention Scheme, the prospect of completing season 2019-20 seems remote.
On a purely sporting level, he would love the chance to reinvigorate his team’s fading promotion hopes but, while the authorities seem determined to jump start the Premier League and Championship seasons, the prospects for League One and below are slim.
However, from his conversations with Henke, Lambert is not about to complain.
‘Michael says it’s such a difficult situation, something they have never encountered before,’ he explains. ‘His club is back training and doing little things. They stagger it. Defenders, midfielders and strikers come down at different times and practise in small groups.
‘I’ve asked how they can possibly get a team on the park from such odd training sessions? We certainly can’t think about doing that yet at Ipswich.
‘It’s incredible how this has affected everything.
It has taken everybody by storm.
‘Players have to buy into it and so do the coaches and managers.
It’s okay saying we play behind closed doors but when do we get tested? ‘If we’re tested on the Friday, we could have caught it by Saturday. Who sits next to who in the technical area?
‘Out on the pitch, players are going to sweat. Physical contact is an issue but so is the ball.
‘If a player heads the ball, the sweat could then transfer to the next player who touches it. ‘There are so many things. If somebody scores a goal, who celebrates with him?’ For the top clubs here, these issues are unlikely to crystallise until season 2020-21 kicks off, as the SPFL inches towards a decision that would end the current Premiership season.
As in Germany, the vast sums of broadcast revenue at stake has made the resumption of the English Premier League a more likely prospect but Lambert remains sceptical.
While the Championship is likely to follow suit with whatever accommodation is reached in the top division, it’s likely the EFL will make a decision to call off the bottom two tiers imminently.
‘At Ipswich, we are just waiting to see,’ adds Lambert. ‘The Premier League is the big hitter but they have to follow the government.
‘Football is not so important that it can make these decisions for itself in the face of this virus. They have to be 100-per-cent sure, spot on the money with this. That’s my opinion.
‘People are talking about neutral grounds, even taking the game to another country. That’s a lot of nonsense. This disease is worldwide. It’s a pandemic. And the game is the same wherever you play it, be it a public park or Anfield.
‘How do you change the game? It’s still a contact sport. Players will run around and sweat. How can you say that’s going to be all right?
‘In an ideal world, I would love the season to be played to a finish as there are so many things that can happen regarding promotion, relegation, etc.
‘But, at this moment, I don’t see it. Why should people risk their lives to play?
‘It’s not right. Plus, football is nothing without fans. If we can’t have fans coming into stadiums to watch us, it doesn’t make sense. And they’re going to gather anyway.’
The first signs of how this new game might look came on Friday when South Korea’s K League resumed in curious circumstances that involved substitutes clad in face masks and piped crowd noise
How do you change the game? It’s still a contact sport. Players will run and sweat. How can you say it’s going to be all right?
to compensate for the lack of atmosphere in the ground.
A diligent policy of test and quarantine has helped the South Koreans contain coronavirus and move to start its new season.
Lambert harbours fears that in Germany, and indeed Britain, the fact the season is moving towards its prize-giving conclusion heightens the risk of crowds congregating elsewhere.
‘Before lockdown, I watched the Champions League game between Dortmund and PSG,’ he recalls. ‘It was behind closed doors and you could hear every thud, kick, header of the ball. And still there were thousands of PSG fans gathered outside the stadium.
‘Down here, you’ve got Liverpool and Leeds going for big title wins. You’re not telling me that Liverpool fans, who have not seen their team win a title for 30 years, are not going to try to celebrate somewhere, whether that’s near the neutral venue or at Anfield?
‘How do you stop that? Same if Celtic win the title and get nine in a row. How do you stop them celebrating that?
‘No matter how much we all want to play, the health of everybody is more important than the game.’
Detached from his parents and children who continue to live in Scotland, lockdown has taken an emotional toll on Lambert.
But the 50-year-old has compensated through the duty of care shown to his Ipswich players.
Mental well-being has been the focus of his regular Zoom sessions with squads at all levels through the club’s academy to first team during the lockdown.
Yet if Lambert can control the words of counsel he imparts via video conference, he admits there is a real fear of the unknown as humanity bids to find a way to live with the Covid-19 until a reliable vaccine is tested and then mass produced.
‘We can’t do anything football specific with the lads but we speak to them through Zoom,’ he says.
‘I have also spoken to the Under-13s up to Under-23s just to make sure the kids are all right, that their mental health is okay.
‘We have a young first team and we have to remember this is a difficult situation for them, too.
‘They are all training away on their own programmes but whatever they are doing now, it’s not football.
‘The big thing I’m hearing back from the players is testing. Whenever it happens, I don’t think we should be asked to play games without those assurances.
‘We need to be 100-per-cent safe. You don’t want the guys contracting this virus and then taking it home to their families.
‘I would like to see the season finished but there has to be a cut-off point. We can’t keep kicking the can down the road.’
Even if the focus switches to resetting for next season, Lambert has grave fears over the future of clubs at his level.
Just as in Scotland, gate money is crucial in England’s third tier.
‘If no fans come in, then it will ruin clubs here,’ he declares. ‘We normally get crowds of more than 20,000 at Ipswich, so playing behind closed doors will cost money.
‘It’s impossible. It’s a mess. Nobody has an answer to this. And nobody can. Everything is so far behind the eight ball.
‘I think it will change the game. It will need to be stripped back. Finances are not going to be as strong.
‘But that’s only right — because life is more important than the game.
‘We have never seen anything like this. When you see people dying, you realise sport is nowhere near the priority.’