For the FA’s Chairman Greg Clarke however, it seems that playing out the remaining fixtures behind closed doors would be the preferred option.
In a letter to the FA governing council, the English Football Association’s Chairman Greg Clarke has stated that fans will not be able to return to watch games “any time soon.”
"The reality is that we just don't know how things are going to pan out, but with social distancing in place for some time to come we do face substantial changes to the whole football ecosystem," Clarke stated in the letter.
Clarke also expressed concern about the impact that the Coronavirus Pandemic will have on football’s finances, arguing that in the “worst-case scenario”, the Premier League could be running on a three hundred million pound deficit, an eventuality Clark added, would impact “every area of the game.”
The Premier League has been effectively suspended since March, due to fears that the health and safety of players and fans alike would have been put at risk from the spread of the Coronavirus within the UK, which currently has one of Europe’s largest death tolls from the disease.
The football associations of other countries in the continent, such as Italy and Spain have published a so-called “roadmap”, that serves as a guideline for clubs ahead of a potential return to playing competitive fixtures.
These protocols outline how players should begin training on a solo basis, before returning to group training amid ongoing Coronavirus testing, whilst also providing details about accommodation and venues.
The English FA is expected to produce their own guidelines for how professional football clubs can safely resume their activities after British Prime Minister reveals his own plans for how the UK as a whole will loosen its coronavirus lockdown, next Sunday.
If the Premier League season cannot be completed; the most popular alternative solutions for ending the campaign have been to render it “null and void” and start afresh when it is safe to do so or to end the season based on the table standings as they stood when the professional sport was called off in March.
These options would have stark ramifications for football clubs at both the top and bottom of the table, as Liverpool would be denied a historic title win, and Norwich, Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth, who sit in 20th, 19th and 18th place respectively, could argue that they have been unjustly demoted, and hence deprived of essential gate receipts and television money.
UEFA, Europe’s football governing body has given leagues within its jurisdiction until the 25th of May to confirm whether they are able to play out the rest of their respective seasons, and it remains unclear whether the Premier League and other top divisions such as the Spanish LaLiga and Italian Serie A, will actually be able to do so, despite their optimism and lofty ambitions.
