Fresh doubts over ‘Project Restart’
A THIRD Brighton & Hove Albion player has tested positive for coronavirus in the latest setback to the Premier League’s “Project Restart”.
As the 20 Premier League clubs meet today by video conference, some are concerned they are being rushed into a restart which is inappropriate, given deaths from the coronavirus averaged almost
500 a day in the UK last week.
At present, the season is scheduled to restart on June 12 with the FA Cup final the last game of the season on August 8.
But Brighton chief executive Paul Barber said: “We have got to be careful that we do not mis-step here because if we do, it could ruin lives. It could cost lives. And we cannot afford that.”
Clubs will also ask the Premier League to explore with the government an opportunity to abandon the neutral venues plan and instead use home and away grounds to finish the season.
Relegation-threatened clubs with most to lose, such as Brighton, Aston Villa and Watford, have expressed their opposition to neutral venues and West Ham United vice-chairman Karren Brady said on Saturday that clubs were “understandably concerned” by the plan.
“Despite all of the measures that we’ve been taking, where the players haven’t been involved in any significant training at all, we’ve still suffered another player testing positive for the virus,” Barber said.
Graham Potter’s squad have been isolating from each other since the shutdown, although the club did recently open their training ground up for players to do socially-distanced physical training.
“There are concerns and I think it’s normal for all clubs to have those concerns,” Barber continued.
“We want to make sure we do everything that we can to ensure protocols are in place and are safe and secure and mitigate the risk as far as we can.
“One of the things we’ve asked the Premier League for is a complete plan of all of the stages of returning to play.
“First we need to get players back training in small groups, then they need to get involved in some contact training and then training for a match before the match itself,” Barder added.
“So there are lots of stages, it’s very complex and there are people at the Premier League working very hard to produce detailed paperwork to move through those stages as safely as possible.”
On the subject of neutral venues to finish the Premier League season, the Brighton CEO again laid out why this has a serious impact on the club.
“A switch to neutral venues at this stage would be like a new competition,” Barber said.
“We have nine matches to play, five at home, four of them are against the top six – difficult games but traditionally at the Amex we’ve done well against the bigger sides. Therefore losing that home advantage, even without crowds, is significant.
“We’re familiar with our pitch, dressing room, environment, training pitches which we use to prepare for home games because they’re identical to the pitch at the Amex.
“Of course, people will accuse us of self-interest and I completely understand that. But at this stage of the season, there’s self-interest at every end of the table.”