Well, they suspended football the morning after Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta announced he had tested positive for COVID-19. On hold, they say, until early April, though few believe it will return that soon. Some think it could go into the summer before the season gets resolved. Others think it could be cancelled altogether. A handful within that bracket, want that to happen for selfish, self-serving, tribal reasons: They hate Liverpool. Those people are also hoarding toilet paper.
But we’re a long way from cancellation I would think. With months stretching out ahead to finish the season once things calm down, there is no reason it cannot be completed. Euro 2020 has been shifted to 2021 and the summer has opened up. If that means delaying a start to the 2020-21 season, then so be it. How could they move into a new season with one left uncompleted? Moreso when the current season is 28-29 of 38 games in.
The question of when it will resume has no answer. When medical experts cannot even agree on the best way forward to combat the virus because nobody is sure how the virus will grow or spread in the weeks or months ahead, then what hope is there for the rest of us to speculate? But what else can we do with no football to watch?
Ain’t it funny in a perverse kind of way how each weekend we would watch VAR decisions and declare that the game has gone. Now it has.
What I am curious about though is how long they can suspend the season for? Indeed, suspend life for as social distancing is encouraged? Sport has all but shut down, mass events are being cancelled, and the knock on effect of this is financial. With restaurants and bars going empty, hotels with few guests, and sporting arenas without people coming in and spending money, how long before there are mass layoffs and smaller companies going out of business? Unless you are in the toilet paper or hand sanitiser industry, this is a time of great uncertainty.
The longer life is held in suspension to curb the flow of this virus, the more damage will be done to the economy. Go too long and I suspect they could cripple it. And of course lives are more important that money, but it is easy to equate the economy and finances with the wealthy. But if the economy goes down, a lot of people on low wage jobs will be first to go. Mortgages and rent need paid, mental health issues will rise, and should stocks markets crash, pension funds will suffer. I am no expert by any stretch, but these things jump out when I think of the impact of economic trouble in relation to this virus.
So how long do they go? Where is the line between shutting down to ease the spread, and getting back to life as best as possible to avoid economic collapse?
How would I know? Does anyone? That I suppose will be the deciding factor. To weight up the spread of the disease and the danger of it against such things. I suspect the impact on businesses, jobs, people spending and the stock market will be felt right away. Beyond three to five weeks and it will get serious. If we’re still waiting around through the summer to re-start jobs, seasons, events and feeling encouraged to go out to the pub, then things are bleak. And not only because the virus is still rampant.
Of course, this is getting away from football, and in the grand scheme of things football has a small impact on the economy. But it still has an impact and if nothing else, sports like football provide an escape from real life for millions. And right now, there is no escape and all we see on the television is stories about the virus, and, more than anything, speculation, assumptions and opinions on what to expect. And I guess in a way I have fallen into the trap of doing that here.
But I don’t know much and I certainly don’t know what comes next. All I can do is wait and see. Do family things and get out on my bike. Yes, I cannot contract COVID-19 while out out for a ride!
But what if they do shut the football season down?
Well, I would say we have more than a big enough sample size to declare a winner. That Liverpool are the best team and the champions in waiting goes without saying. Anyone with an ounce of common sense would think it ridiculous for Liverpool to be denied at this stage. If they are to scrap the season, they still ought to award a winner. This isn’t as though Liverpool are leading by, say, five points with nine games to go. The lead is TWENTY-FIVE points. It is a done deal.
The issue of course is what you do with those still battling relegation or European places? Do you declare the table as is and tell them, “bad luck” in an unprecedented time of bad luck? Or do you promote the top two sides in the championship and have a 22-team Premier League next season? Do you expand the teams entering the Champions League and increase the preliminary rounds?
Suspending the football season for three weeks or three months before resuming is the right thing to do. How long they do so is dependent on other external factors mentioned above. But finish it when the opportunity allows. They are far too far in now. If by July-August there is still no conceivable way to re-start and it becomes a last resort, then we will have to look again then. But then, that will likely mean the following season won’t be ready to start on time either, and why should a new season start until this one is resolved. If a new season cannot start, then they’ve lots more time to finish the current one. They must exhaust every possible measure (and that includes playing behind closed doors – something I hate the idea of, but which is better than nothing at all). And none of this mentions the brutal financial impact on a lot of clubs up and down the divisions should a season not finish and television money not get paid.
Anyone pushing for the season to be scraped as a first resort is forming their opinion because they support a rival of Liverpool and nothing more. Deep down they know Liverpool are deserved champions and are scrambling for a straw with which to clutch and deny it. Lives come first, of course they do, but a new football season should not come first in a sporting context.
All speculative as is everything surrounding Coronavirus. It is a wait and see game now. Let us hope the break we’re all taking from so many things calms the spread.
Unlike Liverpool’s league lead being unassailable, this virus carries no certainties.
Always Next Year 