Pundit questions plan to restart football as Coronavirus continues to bite

Gary Neville is unhappy that Arsenal and other teams are getting prepared for a return to Premier League action while the coronavirus pandemic continues to spread across the globe.

Football around the world has been suspended because of the pandemic which affected Arsenal’s Mikel Arteta before they stopped games.

The Premier League and other football federations across Europe are getting set for the resumption of league games again at the end of next month, but they do not impress Neville with that development.

The former Manchester United full-back thinks that the only reason the Premier League wants to resume is purely economics, and he wonders if footballers have to die before the governing bodies would consider it unsafe to play football.

He claims that the prizes at stake for teams like Leeds United who have worked so hard to get a promotion are clouding the judgement of those in charge of the game and they will risk playing.

He said as quoted by the Sun: “The Fifa medical officer said that football should not take place before September. I think if it was a non-economic decision there would be no football for months.

“People are now assessing risk. How many people have to die playing football in the Premier League before it becomes unpalatable? One? One player? One member of staff goes into intensive care? What risk do we have to take? The discussion is purely economic.

“There will be people who will view it as a risk factor. Players themselves will want to go and play. Players at the lower levels will want to go play and 1,400 players are out of contract.

“Clubs have huge investment in this season. Think about what’s at stake for Leeds, it’s absolutely massive. There are big prizes up for grabs. There’s huge economic loss. It clouds people’s minds in terms of the risk that they’re willing to take.”

The same applies to Gary Neville, he is a renowned socialist that tried the get England players to go out on strike when Rio Ferdinand, his club teammate, failed to take a drug test. He also has a visceral dislike of Liverpool and Leeds United, two teams that would be severely hit by any cancellation.

Finally, he is not an economist and probably knows very little about poverty deaths. You wipe out work for hundreds of thousands of people and poverty will follow, it is not so black and white as he makes out and the Government has to take all this into consideration.

Tags Gary Neville

6 Comments

  1. Gary Neville has always been a sensible thoughtful pundit and he speaks with total common sense. He is right of course, the world and the UKs lives are more important.

    1. He has no clue about poverty deaths though Reggie and his judgement is clouded in my opinion. He is one pundit I do not value as I find him terribly hypocritical.

  2. I can take Gary Neville talking about football matters because of his football background and knowledge. At that level, I respect his position.

    Beyond that I am not sure I value his opinion. I can’t warm to him at all. He is happy to spout and I know he and Giggs have been magnanimous, but I just can’t help it.

    Admin, you described him as a socialist. Fair enough. I would put champagne in front. I really am not a fan. Not necessarily logical…..

      1. Ad Martin, you have freely admitted you don’t like Neville and that is your choice, as is mine to applaud him for having the common sense and guts to stand up for what he believes , even though he knows it will upset some of his former football friends. That is HOW decent people work; they do what is right without fear or favour and at whatever disadvantage to themselves.

        I have more admiration for this man since he retired playing than I ever thought possible and I AM AS FAR FROM BEING A SOCIALIST AS IT IS POSSIBLE TO BE.

        His personal politics are his affair, whether or not one agrees(and I DON’T ) but is irrelevant to his opinion – a sensible and inevitable one too – that no more football will be played in Britain this summer.

        1. I disagree Jon. Let me give you an example. If it was Man Utd 25 points clear and not Liverpool and if it was Salford nailed on for promotion and not Leeds I have no doubts he would have a very different opinion.

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