Good news football fans - the Premier League could be returning very soon.Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden revealed earlier this week that he had been in contact with clubs about restarting the Premier League "as soon as possible".It has emerged that the Premier League hopes to return in June and they have devised a plan named 'Project Restart'.The plan would require all clubs to be in full training by May 18.The season will then restart on June 8 and finish at the end of July to fit in with Uefa's European competition plans.A sum of £4million would be spent on 26,000 tests to ensure players and staff were as safe as possible.However, there have been concerns that the league is trying to return to action too early.The coronavirus is still killing hundreds of people in the UK every day.And Gary Neville is one high-profile name in the sport that is not happy with the idea.
He vented his opinion on Sky Sports' 'The football show' earlier on Wednesday, arguing that the Premier League's hopes to return is solely motivated by money.He said, per the Daily Mail: "The FIFA medical officer said that football should not take place before September. I think if it was a non-economic decision there would be no football for months."People are now assessing risk. How many people have to die playing football in the Premier League before it becomes unpalatable? One? One player? One member of staff goes into intensive care? What risk do we have to take?"He added, per Sky Sports: "The reasons we're discussing football coming back at this moment in time are purely economic reasons."If people are really serious about putting health first, we wouldn't be discussing football returning at this moment in time."
Neville continued: "There will be people who will view it as a risk factor. Players themselves will want to go and play. Players at the lower levels will want to go play and 1,400 players are out of contract.
"Clubs have huge investment in this season. Think about what’s at stake for Leeds, it’s absolutely massive. There are big prizes up for grabs. There’s huge economic loss. It clouds people’s minds in terms of the risk that they’re willing to take.
"There are some players with conditions that could be more at risk of coronavirus than others and that is something that needs to be assessed.
"If health comes first, there is only one outcome at this moment in time. How many players have got asthma? How many players have diabetes? Have they assessed all of these things and are they willing to put those people at risk?"
Neville has spoken perfect sense.
We all want the league to return as soon as possible.
But there's no point in it returning if players and staff would still be at risk. At the end of the day, people's wellbeing is much more important than money.
The Premier League need to take that into account when they make their final decision.