Exclusive: FA and Premier League planning to complete season behind closed doors in July restart
Exclusive: The Premier League and FA are planning on finishing the season behind closed doors starting in July, with clubs facing legal headaches over player contracts
By
Joe Doyle
15:01, 28 MAR 2020
UPDATED 15:35, 28 MAR 2020
The FA, Premier League and English Football League are currently planning to finish the 2019/20 season behind closed doors over a period of four to six weeks starting in July, football.london understands.
All emphasis currently is on finishing the season and therefore avoiding the potential ramifications of an unfinished competition, including hundreds of millions of pounds in lost revenue for clubs.
With the current lockdown period set to end on April 13, clubs will be hoping that the conditions can be relaxed with players able to return to training.
Fixtures are postponed until at least April 30 at the moment, but the expectation is that there will be further postponements, with issues over insurance and player safety likely to stop any matches taking place until the crisis is over.
Those within some of London's Premier League clubs have told football.london they are yet to hear a firm proposal from the governing bodies on what will happen next, but are well aware that nobody knows as of yet when football in the country will be able to restart. All clubs are hoping the game returns sooner rather than later but it must be when the fears over players, staff members and their families' health are gone.
football.london understands that in a conference call between the three governing bodies and the government on Saturday, the plan was reached to complete the season in July, with games to take place behind closed doors over a period of four to six weeks unless the situation worsens in the UK.
This will then take the teams more or less straight into the new season, but there will be some allowances made to try and help players and clubs cope with what would essentially be an extended 2020/21 season.
Those potential measures could include cancelling cup replays, or even potentially scrapping the League Cup and EFL Trophy.
This would also bring up potential problems with players' contracts and incoming transfers, with the likes of Hakim Ziyech already agreeing to join Chelsea on July 1, while Willian and Pedro are set to be out of contract on that date.
However, those concerns are currently of a secondary nature, and would involve input from FIFA, including on when the transfer window is likely to open.
Whether players would be allowed to register for new clubs with a season ongoing remains to be seen, offering the prospect of a potential legal nightmare for a number of players and clubs.
The next Premier League meeting is scheduled to take place on Friday, where clubs could be told about a potential starting date.
https://www.football.london/premier-league/premier-league-coronavirus-closed-doors-18000224