Ian Herbert: Football must pause with Covid cases out of control

Record numbers of Covid cases and the NHS stretched to breaking point as the virulent Omicron strain spreads yet football wants to continue… As Premier League and EFL games are picked off one by one, we MUST see sense and take a pause

  • It’s time for sense to prevail and the football season to be paused in the UK
  • Five Premier League fixtures have now been postponed as Omicron spreads
  • The NHS is under strain as new Covid cases continue to reach record highs
  • Players and staff have been struck down with clubs unable to field a team 
  • We also seriously need to ask whether tens of thousands of fans should gather
  • A pause would cause a fixture pile-up but we are in a national emergency  

Clubs reap what they sow when it comes to this brutally virulent new Covid variant.

Manchester United’s Ralf Rangnick has been just as tepid about demanding players vaccinate as Ole Gunnar Solskjaer ever was. 

A member of the United medical staff didn’t even know that the club were keeping open the Carrington training ground for 120 players and staff on Monday, after all first team staff had been removed from the premises. 

Brighton fans have their Covid vaccination passes checked before Wednesday night’s game against Wolves in what is likely to become a familiar routine for supporters in the UK

The Burnley vs Watford game at Turf Moor was called off just two hours before kick-off on Wednesday night following a Covid outbreak in the Hornets camp

Now the club have 21 cases. Just join the dots on that one.

But beyond those cases of managerial timidity, this is the story of a variant moving at a phenomenal pace. Of two epidemics taking hold at once. 

Of the UK reporting its highest number of daily infections since the pandemic began and the NHS being placed on its highest state of alert. ‘Level 4 National Incident’ as those on the front line know it only too well.

We are staring down the barrel of a national crisis – March 2020 revisited – and all of that adds up to the incontestable fact that the Premier League programme must be suspended.

Man United’s Carrington training base was closed again and will remain shut until Tuesday

United were able to train this week but only nine players were available to play on Saturday, causing the postponement of their home fixture against Brighton

You only had to listen the supremely articulate NHS medical director of primary care, Dr Nikki Kanani, during Wednesday evening’s press conference with the Prime Minister, to question why a weekend programme which will encourage tens of thousands to congregate is actually going ahead, 48 hours from now. 

‘My advice would be if you’re going to go to a stadium at the weekend, make it one where you can get your vaccine or help out to give a vaccine rather than going to watch a match,’ Kanani said.

Downing Street’s press people hardly backed her to the hilt, briefing by early evening that Kanani was ‘not being prescriptive’ and that: ‘We understand it’s a personal choice for the public.’ 

Brentford boss Thomas Frank wants this weekend’s Premier League games to be postponed

The Bees have recorded 13 positive cases among players and club staff as of Thursday

But no spin could erase the message of Kanani – someone who knows, from the inside what is heading down the tracks, for hospitals and the NHS.

There will, of course, be objections to the idea of the Premier League – and the EFL – closing down, for what should be at least a 10-day circuit break.

When will the game start up again, if this variant continues to rage? 

How will the game contend with the fixture pile-up, given that we are entering the traditional forest of Christmas fixtures? There’s a winter break next season for Qatar’s World Cup. No room to push things back.

To which the answer has to be that though football is the modern day a religion, it is also a sport. A game. 

Brendan Rodgers fears the Premier League are bowing to pressure from broadcasters

In the end, Thursday’s fixture between Leicester and Tottenham was called off 

A mere trifle set against the broader picture of an NHS again so crippled that hotels are being used to relieve pressure on beds in some parts of England.

The events we are now reporting on within the game also cry out for the entire merry-go-round to halt.

We have been plunged back into new rounds of protest and indignation, with some clubs – Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur – allowed to cancel fixtures, while others – initially Leicester City, a club with seven Covid-stricken players – are not.

It was hard to disagree with Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers’ observation on Wednesday that broadcasters were dictating events. 

The subsequent cancellation of his side’s home match with Tottenham came as fans of the latter prepared to travel. 

Covid threatens to ruin Christmas cheer this year but football seems determined to carry on

The decision to postpone Burnley’s home match against Watford was announced at 5pm on Wednesday, as people were beginning to arrive for a 7.30pm kick-off. Chaos, everywhere.

A beleaguered Everton will now face a Leicester side which has a full week’s rest in their legs, if Rodgers can actually muster a squad for their visit to Goodison on Sunday.

There is a fog of uncertainty when it comes to the Premier League and this virus. We have had no transparency on the levels of vaccination among players since the total percentage – 68 per cent – was last shared in October.

But the Premier League can provide leadership now. When the nation’s chief medical officer is declaring that ‘Covid infection records will be broken a lot over the next few weeks’ and pleading with us to cut back on socialising, the prospect of football playing merrily on is nothing less than an embarrassment.

HOW OMICRON HAS THE PREMIER LEAGUE ON EDGE

Brentford

The Bees have 13 cases among players and staff – the club are now calling for a circuit-breaker shutdown to help clubs recover.

Leicester

Will be without several players for Tottenham’s visit on Thursday due to Covid. The game is now set to be postponed after initial calls it called off were rejected by the Premier League.

Manchester United

Case numbers are currently unknown but a large outbreak saw their game with Brentford postponed. Calls to have Saturday’s game with Brighton to be postponed were accepted on Thursday due to the outbreak at the club.

Brighton

Had request to have game with Wolves postponed rejected by the Premier League following an outbreak at the club. Graham Potter confirmed there were ‘three to four’ positive cases before the game. Game with Manchester United has now been postponed.

Norwich

Dean Smith is facing an anxious wait to discover the full extent of the outbreak at the club. Currently in discussions with the Premier League over Saturday’s clash with West Ham.

Watford

Saw the game with Burnley postponed just hours before kick-off. Case numbers currently unknown.

Tottenham

Spurs were the first Premier League club to be hit by the Omicron variant last week and saw games against Brighton and Rennes postponed after cases reached double digits among players and staff. Those who tested positive for the virus are expected to return in the next couple of days after completing their 10-day self-isolation period. Spurs’ clash with Leicester on Thursday is now set to be postponed after initial demands to have the game called off were rejected.

Chelsea

After Brentford, the Blues became the latest club to be hit by a Covid outbreak, after it was confirmed ahead of their game with Everton that three more first-team players had tested positive for Covid, with Mateo Kovacic the first Chelsea player to get the virus this week.




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