Hypocrisy behind closed doors

FOOTBALL is coming back. The South Korean K-League provided our football fix last weekend and the German Bundesliga is not far behind.

The English Premier League is continuing to discuss a possible return in June – backed by the British government, who want to see football return to give a boost to national morale.

On the surface it all seems to be quite straightforward: wait for the authorities to give the green light, adhere to whatever safety measures they insist upon, and give the players a few weeks to train.

But as ever in football, things are not quite so simple.

Unlike in Germany, the Premier League appears to be working towards returning by playing matches at neutral venues. Everybody accepts that for now games will have to be played behind closed doors, but the question is where?

I haven’t heard a compelling argument for the need to use neutral stadiums. If it’s safe to play behind closed doors, why is it not safe to play all the remaining games as scheduled at each club’s ground?

The fear of doing so – from what I can tell – stems mostly from not trusting supporters to behave responsibly. The expectation that fans will gather in potentially large numbers outside stadiums despite not being permitted inside is apparently a major worry.

Firstly, this fear is hypothetical. Nobody knows how likely it is that this will happen. Most of the concern centres around Liverpool fans massing to celebrate their first title win in 30 years. That’s a risk, but is it such an unmanageable one that all games have to be moved to neutral venues? I rather doubt it.

As lockdown restrictions are eased in the coming weeks, it should be possible for fans to get together in small groups (even if that’s only at home initially) to enjoy the atmosphere of watching games together.

I expect that ways will be found for supporters to return by September or October at the latest. The further down the leagues you go, the more important that is for clubs to survive.

As discussions carry on and these issues continue to be debated, some Premier League clubs are threatening to vote against restarting. They are suggesting that playing at neutral venues would be unfair. You’ll never guess which clubs are protesting: yes, those threatened with relegation.

They’re saying that being denied playing in their home grounds at this crucial stage of the season threatens the integrity of the competition. That’s utter nonsense.

Of course, the situation is not ideal but everyone is in the same situation and if it’s the only way for the league to return then it should be done.

A much bigger threat to the integrity of the competition is to abandon it as it stands. But some at the bottom would much rather do that and hope to avoid relegation in the process, even if it meant denying promotion to teams in the Championship.

It’s a stance that’s selfish and hypocritical. These clubs care about saving themselves, not integrity.

In the understandable desperation that most in the game have to get football back, there have been some ridiculous suggestions for how to do so.

The Chairman of the PFA said matches could be shortened to prevent players getting too tired. Gary Neville said they could try to play the rest of the season in a country that has the virus situation more under control such as Australia.

I half expect to read reports that the Premier League have started discussions with Elon Musk about finishing the season on Mars.

Some clubs are about as far away from integrity as we all are from Mars.

Craig Wilkie. Football Writer. Football Coach. Football Fan.

The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of The Star