Gary Neville has suggested that some Premier League players who are worried about the coronavirus would still return to training because of peer pressure.
Watford’s Troy Deeney has refused to return to his team’s training this week citing concerns over his son’s health as he has had breathing issues in the past.
Chelsea’s N’Golo Kante resumed training, but he then decided against continuing after just one session.
Several Premier League players have concerns over returning because the coronavirus pandemic is still costing lives off the field, but not all of them have spoken up or avoided training.
Neville reckons that even players who want to stay back because their team has told them that they don’t have to resume would feel that they have to get back to business because their teammates are getting on with the job.
Neville told Sky Sports as quoted by the Mail: ‘Players are uncomfortable. The dressing room is a challenging environment to stand up and say “I’m not going to come to training, I’m not going to be with the rest of my team-mates”.
‘Twenty years ago everyone would have been pressurised and told to get on with it, you would have felt that peer pressure but that peer pressure still exists.
‘It’s almost like when your manager used to say when you were younger that training is optional tomorrow, don’t worry if you don’t want to come in, I won’t hold it against you. You knew full well you had to come in because if you didn’t come in you weren’t being professional.
‘It’s a bit like that now, when you hear a manager on TV saying they won’t put any pressure on my players.
‘If you’re a player at home with doubts and all your team-mates are going in, you’re going to go in.
‘You mentioned [N’Golo] Kante and his circumstances, you understand why he’s going to be nervous. Troy Deeney the same.
‘I do think there will be more players in training at the moment with nerves who are wary of going in and are considering their health.
‘A large majority will be okay with it and want to play so it’s a case of “we’re not going to stop this now, they’re back in training”. This is a train back on the track, so it isn’t going to stop.’
Poor Gary Neville, he cannot stand it that he has been proven utterly wrong and that football is returning despite his silly scaremongering.
Like the weak-willed players he is hopelessly trying to defend, he will be judged at a later date for the nonsense he has spouted during this time.
