LONDON • Players have accepted that playing games in closed stadiums might be the only way to complete the English domestic league season, Bobby Barnes, deputy chief executive of the Professional Footballers' Association (PFA), has said.
All four tiers are suspended until at least April 30 due to the global coronavirus pandemic, although the Football Association, Premier League and English Football League have agreed to extend the season indefinitely.
On Monday night, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson placed the country under lockdown, with people barred from leaving their homes apart from a few "very limited" reasons.
As such, Barnes said players were now looking at "realistic" options to bring this season to a conclusion.
"In an ideal world, we'd be playing in front of crowds, but it's more a case of there being no alternative," he told sports website The Athletic. "We're not in an ideal world and the players I've spoken to accept that's what it will have to be.
"Football is about fans. But the reality for the vast majority of the players, particularly at the highest level, is their income is funded by television money and there are contracts that have to be adhered to.
"In order for us (the PFA) to be able to protect those players in terms of securing their salaries, if that's the only offer we have on the table to complete the season, then that is what it will be."
However, with Covid-19 ravaging Europe - the continent is now its epicentre - it is unclear whether games can proceed, even if staged behind closed doors.
Bernard Caiazzo, president of the union representing clubs in the French top flight, said that Ligue 1 will not resume before June 15.
"We cannot play until the (pandemic) curve is reversed," he told local radio station France Bleu over the weekend. "That is to say in July-August, at best on June 15."
On the financial disaster many clubs were facing as a result of Covid-19, he added: "The five major European championships have already lost €4 billion (S$6.28 billion), the French championship between €500 million and 600 million."
REUTERS
