Former Premier League striker Noel Whelan hopes that the current English top flight season will not be declared null and void given that more than three-quarters of it has been played, a stance that is likely to meet with agreement with those of a Liverpool persuasion.
The Premier League today confirmed that the competition would be put on hiatus until 4 April at the earliest in an effort to prevent the further spread of coronavirus, a decision that was welcomed by Liverpool FC in a club statement.
In Italy, the current Serie A season has also been put on hold and, as per the Daily Mail, football federation official in the country refused to rule out the possibility of the campaign remaining unfinished. However, Whelan hopes that such a drastic measure would not happen in the Premier League.
Speaking to Football Insider, he said: “I don’t think they’re going to make any drastic decisions on cutting the league and voiding it. Personally, I think that would be silly. There’s only nine games left. I don’t think that would be the right decision to take.
“I think we wait for a couple of weeks, we take the measures that we need to take right now, after the two weeks we need to sit down and see how we’re going to play it because it might go on for longer – we don’t know where we stand with this virus and how we’re going to contain it.
“I think suspension of the whole season, that’s not the right thing to do. You can try and catch up with the games later on, or you finish the season as it is.”
Whelan is right to call for the Premier League season to be completed at some point in time rather than simply being scrapped completely and declared null and void. With most clubs already playing 29 of their 38 scheduled league matches, it would seem nonsensical to simply consign the last seven months of football to the dustbin.
Of course, such a scenario would be incredibly galling for Liverpool, given that they sit 25 points clear at the top of the table having won 27 of their 29 league matches to date and, as things stand, needing to just beat Manchester City on 5 April to be crowned champions and end a 30-year wait for a league title.
Whelan is also right to advocate for a reassessment of the situation towards the end of March – given the pace at which coronavirus has swept through the UK in recent days, it seems virtually impossible to forecast now what the situation will be like in a fortnight’s time. With UEFA strongly considering the postponement of Euro 2020 to the following summer, there would be a greater time period to complete the club season if that eventuality comes to pass and therefore the campaign should be run off in relatively good time.
Any decision to forego the Premier League season to date would be an insult not just to Liverpool but to other clubs’ efforts since August, so Whelan is quite right in saying that it would be the wrong move to void it completely.
Liverpool fans, do you agree with Whelan’s views on this matter? Let us know what you think by commenting below!
