Premier League clubs want to complete season

The English Premier League clubs have all shown a commitment to finish the 2019/2020 league season after meeting on Friday.

English top-flight was suspended on March 13 due to the coronavirus pandemic, and the teams have discussed the possibility of finishing the season in a 40-day window.
There are 92 fixtures still to be played this season, and the clubs have stated desire to play them in 40 days, albeit no date was stated as the deadline for resumption.

Meanwhile, clubs were expected to discuss a deadline of June 30 for the league to end. Instead they discussed possible models on how to schedule while the Premier League has stated that the dates are tentative.

“Today’s shareholders’ meeting provided an opportunity to discuss possible scheduling models, it remains our objective to complete the 2019-20 season, but at this stage, all dates are tentative while the impact of COVID-19 develops.” a spokesperson of the Premier League was quoted on BBC.

While a majority of the teams have just nine league games to play, four teams have 10 matches still to be executed.

Deaths relating to Coronavirus in the United Kingdom have risen to more than 12,000, leading the Premier League to state that the league would only be resumed when it is appropriate and safe to do so.

A three-week further lockdown was issued by the government on Thursday to manage the spread of the virus.

The secretary for culture Oliver Dowen signaled to the Premier League bosses that contingency planning could start, although there must be approval from the government as regards medical advice before further steps can be taken.

Meanwhile, clubs could lose players should season fail to end before June 30 as players’ contracts will expire, although FIFA has stepped to avoid such a scenario.

Written by: Daniel Ademiju Idowu