WORRIED Premier League club chiefs have hatched a radical plan to save the season.
Euro 2020 was postponed for 12 months yesterday due to the coronavirus in a desperate bid to allow nations to complete their domestic leagues.
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Prem chiefs plan on playing the remaining 92 games behind closed doors at a neutral venue on live TVCredit: Reuters
Prem clubs fear England could be the one country unable to fulfil their fixtures.
And their masterplan is to play all of the remaining 92 games BEHIND CLOSED DOORS with every game in neutral venues at a separate time, live on TV.
The proposal offered by a section of Prem clubs would see two or three grounds host the games, most likely in the Midlands.
The League’s big guns spoke to Uefa chief Aleksander Ceferin as they have more matches left to play than the likes of Italy and Spain.
Clubs will offer up their revolutionary proposal at a crunch Premier League meeting tomorrow.
Grounds could even stage MORE than one game a day with teams playing every THREE DAYS in a race to pack in the fixtures, if and when the government grant approval.
By using only a limited number of stadiums that would help keep numbers of medical and police needed down to a minimum.
Neutral venues would also help avoid home fans turning up at games as happened outside Paris Saint-Germain’s win over Borussia Dortmund last week.
Prem chiefs are aware they have to keep Sky and other TV companies happy because their cash funds a large proportion of the competition.
It would also give a massive lift to the football crazy public.
As SunSport revealed last Thursday, Uefa postponed the Euros for a year in a bid to allow club football seasons to finish.
Manchester City, Arsenal, Aston Villa and Sheffield United have ten Prem games to play while the rest have nine.
Plus there are also FA Cup and Champions League ties to complete.
West Ham vice-chairman Karren Brady revealed in SunSport last Saturday she fears if the coronavirus continues to wipe out the campaign much longer than the proposed April 4 restart then the season should be ‘null and void’.
Her stance was echoed by Villa chief Jesus Garcia Pitarch who claimed most Prem clubs want to scrap relegation if the season does not finish.
Ceferin said: “We all know this terrible virus that is all across Europe has made football and all life in Europe quite impossible. We knew we had to stop the competitions.
“I’ve also heard again fake news Uefa will advise leagues to finish the championships now and decide that the winners are the ones who are number one.
“I can say that it’s not true. Our goal is to finish the leagues.”
FA chief Mark Bullingham is hopeful all games can be completed — including the FA Cup.
He said: “Clearly from our point of view, the FA Cup is incredibly important.
“We are taking the priority being that, whenever football can be played again, to complete the domestic season, we are talking about both the League and the FA Cup.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
