What are the key questions at Premier League’s emergency meeting amid coronavirus outbreak?
Premier League chiefs are set to hold a crunch video conference with club bosses on Thursday to decide the fate of the season amid the continuing coronavirus crisis.
Plenty of different solutions have been mooted, but following the postponement of Euro 2020 until 2021, finishing the club season appears to be a priority.
Ahead of the meeting, Sportsmail takes a look at the key questions that need answering… as well as who will be on the call and what we know so far.
All Premier League matches have been suspended until at least April 4, and probably longer
What do we know so far?
Tuesday was a big day for both domestic and international football as the decision was made to postpone Euro 2020 for a year. That, in effect, confirmed that the priority is to finish the club season, including the Champions League and Europa League.
The initial plan from the Premier League, concocted during their last emergency meeting on Friday, was to cancel matches until the start of April, and then continue the season as normal.
Of course, the constantly-evolving coronavirus pandemic is likely to change that situation, and there is a very real possibility that there could be no football (as we know it) until the summer.
There are, of course, plenty of potential solutions but none are without problems, and it is unlikely that one single fix will be agreed by all 20 top-flight clubs.
Every decision that will be made at the meeting on Thursday will be done so with government and expert advice at the forefront of their minds, with the knowledge that things are changing very quickly at the moment and any decision made might need to be re-evaluated in the coming weeks.
The season is up in the air, with questions over whether Liverpool will be crowned champions
Who will be at the meeting?
Well, technically nobody. Much like UEFA and their series of video conference calls on Tuesday, the Premier League will follow the same guide and all speak remotely amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Last Friday’s meeting took place in person, but things have escalated in the last week and the decision has since been taken to conference call rather than meet face-to-face.
Chiefs from all 20 Premier League clubs are expected to be in virtual attendance, and given the importance of the meeting it’s unlikely any of them will duck out.
Karren Brady, West Ham’s vice-chairman, is among those scheduled to take part, and she has been one of the most vocal in calling for the season to be completely scrapped.
Liverpool’s chief executive officer Peter Moore, meanwhile, will likely be far more in favour of continuing the season, given his side’s position atop the Premier League table.
The video conference will be chaired by new Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, who was only appointed in December following a prolonged and frustrating recruitment process.
He has been thrust into the eye of the storm and has an extremely difficult job to do in keeping all 20 Premier League clubs happy. This is a completely unprecedented scenario and he is the man tasked with steering the ship.
Richard Masters will chair video conference call on Thursday just months after appointment
What is on the agenda?
First and foremost, safety. Any decision that will be made will be with the players’ and fans’ wellbeing in mind. As much as the Premier League will want to complete the season as quickly as possible, if it puts anyone in danger, it won’t happen.
The main talking point of the meeting will of course be: can we finish the season, and if so, how soon? The Premier League will be taking the latest government advice on mass gatherings and the spread of the coronavirus, before going through a number of different possibilities.
A worst-case scenario will also be discussed… if we can’t resume the Premier League season until the summer or beyond, what happens to the fate of the 2019-20 season? This, of course, will have Liverpool fans listening very closely.
Liverpool fans will be anxiously waiting for news over their fate following an amazing season
When is the season going to resume?
This is the big question that needs answering. Currently, April 3 is the answer, but that appears very unlikely and all of the noise coming from Premier League clubs is that they don’t expect to play again until at least June.
One senior club source told Sky Sports this week that he believes there is a 75 per cent chance the season will not be completed due to the coronavirus outbreak.
He said: ‘I can’t see any chance we will be back in three weeks. This will go on for months and you wonder even about the start of next season.
‘I’d say there is a 75 per cent chance the season will not be completed. There are huge questions to answer. Does anybody get promoted or relegated?
‘Many clubs in all four divisions will struggle financially.’
UEFA’s decision to postpone the European Championship is certainly a step in the right direction for the Premier League, freeing them up this summer to complete their 92 matches without the month-long international competition complicating matters.
But, in all honesty, the spread of the virus will completely dictate when we see footballers stepping onto the hallowed turf again.
Karren Brady (centre) is one of the Premier League chiefs arguing for season to be scrapped
What are the possibilities? Could they cancel season?
In reality, no potential solution is off the table at the moment. When all the club chiefs sit down to speak to the Premier League on Thursday, every option will be discussed and re-discussed until they can categorically rule it out and throw that scrap of paper in the bin.
No one solution will suit everyone, so there is likely to be a vote following the discussion to work out once and for all what happens next.
Here are a few potential solutions…
- Resume the season as normal: This is likely to be the most-fancied by Premier League chiefs. Fans have paid for tickets, TV companies have bought the rights to show the matches, it is the least complicated solution going forward. All in all, money is king in the Premier League and for those worried about the depth of their pockets, this option is easily the most financially viable. That said, it’s all well and good saying, ‘let’s start the season up and continue as normal’, but exactly when they’ll be able to do that is another matter.
- Cancel the season: The solution championed by Brady at West Ham, and most certainly the one that favours the likes of Norwich, Aston Villa and Bournemouth, the clubs moored in the top-flight relegation zone. In this plan, the season is declared null and void, and the same 20 teams start again from scratch when football starts up again. Clearly Liverpool, who have all-but won their first league title in 30 years, might have something to say about this.
- End the season now: One other potential solution is to call a halt to the season now, give Liverpool the title and have no relegations this season. Although this satisfies both Liverpool’s thirst to win the title and West Ham’s desire to not be relegated, it creates problems further down the line. It would mean that next season, there would be 22 teams in the Premier League, with Leeds and West Brom promoted from the Championship, followed by five relegation places next season. But there are plenty of arguments to that… what about the Championship sides that could feasibly have caught up to the automatic promotion places? Manchester City, at the top of the Premier League, although unlikely, could mathematically still catch Liverpool. But this solution will almost certainly be discussed.
A sign outside Tottenham’s stadium reads ‘Matches Postponed’ amid coronavirus outbreak
And what about the ‘behind-closed-doors-plan’?
This is the latest potential solution from the chiefs of the 20 Premier League clubs, according to the Sun. As with the other solutions above, it is likely to be discussed at Thursday’s meeting as a potential way of completing the season in good time, while also giving a way for the fans to watch every one of the 92 matches.
Much like the other solutions, it isn’t foolproof and there are certainly drawbacks – one of which being that no fans would be able to watch any live matches for the rest of the season.
Here’s how it would work: every match remaining of this current Premier League season would be played behind closed doors at two or three neutral venues, most likely in the Midlands, and streamed live on TV.
Grounds could even stage more than one game a day with teams playing every three days in a race to pack in the fixtures.
By using only a limited number of stadiums that would help keep numbers of medical and police needed down to a minimum.
In latest plan, all 92 remaining games would be shown live on TV to appease broadcasters
