We are getting close to relaxing the lockdown rules all over Europe as it seems that there is now reductions in deaths from the coronavirus, and it look like the Premier League are going to follow the Bundesliga and restart our remaining games.
But there seems to be big sticking point at the moment where there are many clubs that will refuse to play at neutral venues, therefore derailing the Project Restart, which could then mean that we may end up simply cancelling the season completely.
As the Brighton chief executive Paul Barber made clear when he told the Mirror: “If this is such a big issue for a significant number of clubs – and I think it is – and it’s more, in my opinion, than just the bottom six which keeps being touted.
“I don’t think this is a big six clubs vs bottom six clubs issue, I think clubs at every level have concerns about neutral venues.
“I think it has to be looked at again otherwise we will have an impasse and it will create another delay and more difficulty and we don’t want that.
“We want to return to playing, we want to finish the season and do so when it’s safe and when it’s fair.”
So, surely the sensible thing is to just play the games at the normal home grounds, but keep the teams in virtual isolation at a local venue. The government seems keen to get the economy moving again after incredible personal and business losses since the crisis started, so there will be greatly increased movement around the country anyway.
I’m not saying it is right to carry on the season, but if it is going to start anyway, I don’t see that playing at home or a neutral venue will make much difference. Do you?