Old Trafford unwilling to deny Liverpool title as Southampton back daily matches without fans

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Manchester United unwilling to deny Liverpool title

Nobody has the foggiest idea how this season’s Premier League campaign will end.

The coronavirus outbreak suspended the league in round 29.

Liverpool, who are top of the league, 25 points above Man City, are within touching distance of winning their first league title in 30-years.

But will Liverpool go on to actually win the title? Or will the season be scrapped and Liverpool’s efforts will be declared null and void?

The Premier League chiefs are currently trying to work out how to manage to Covid-19 crisis.

We address questions supporters have about how and when the Premier League might be able to return.

Inside the Premier League’s coronavirus meeting | @lauriewhitwell & @David_Ornstein

— The Athletic UK (@TheAthleticUK) March 21, 2020

Indeed, as reported by the Athletic last week, “representatives from all 20 Premier League clubs dialled into Thursday’s conference call hosted at the Brunel Building in Paddington, London”, to discuss these important schedule issues.

In an interesting note, the Athletic have revealed that Manchester United want the season to finish, even if that means Liverpool will be crowned champions:

During the conference call there was a collective, concerted message that the 2019-20 season had to be finished.

Ed Woodward, Manchester United’s executive vice-chairman, was among the most strident on this point. Described as being “very fair” in his wider input, Woodward was nevertheless firm in saying that even if the season had to run into September or October, that should be the course of action.

There was no hint of trying to deny Liverpool a first title in 30 years, as might mischievously be proposed by some.

Southampton back daily matches without fans

On Sunday, Southampton’s chief executive, Martin Semmens, spoke to BBC Radio Solent about how the Premier League could finish the 2019-20 season.

Semmens believes that as soon as the government green light the restart of the sporting calendar, the Premier League could move into overdrive to complete the campaign.

The Southampton chief exec believes games could be scheduled behind closed doors, with games every day:

When everybody is safe and we’re not using up NHS and police resources, the government would like us to get back to playing because we are entertainment and a sign that the country is coming back to normal.

If people are home for another month and Premier League football is on the TV every day that can only be a good thing. Not because we are more essential than the NHS but because we can give people entertainment and show that we’re fighting back.

If we ended up playing until 15 July and you had to extend a player’s contract by two weeks, convincing a player to play two more weeks of football and get paid nicely to do it — I don’t believe that will be a substantial challenge.

The challenge is making sure we don’t have a knock-on effect to other seasons and make football compromised for years to come.

Premier League could resume before virus restrictions are lifted – Southampton Chief

Read more on what Martin Semmens said to @BBCRadioSolent on Saturday Sport 👇 #SaintsFC https://t.co/pnGaSsyFi2

— BBC Solent Sport (@solentsport) March 21, 2020