Sam Allardyce warns Premier League against resuming season

The tactician also believes not many people will have enough money to subscribe to television channels to watch the games behind closed doors.

Former England manager Sam Allardyce has insisted that the Premier League shouldn’t even think about restarting the campaign before the coronavirus pandemic declines in the UK.

There have been now more than 50,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases in the country and Sam Allardyce feels like even thinking about resuming the campaign before a vaccine gets procured is out of order.

Speaking to BeIn Sports, the veteran tactician said, “We’d all love for the season to finish, and nobody as much as me."

“But how can we even think about it? We’re lambasting everyone in this country for not doing enough social distancing, there are lockdowns far worse than this in other countries, so how can we think about going back and playing football?

“I can’t see us getting back to playing football until such time as we have a vaccination that clears up this virus.”

The Premier League campaign has only been suspended indefinitely and the authorities are working on resuming the campaign when it’ll be deemed safest to do so. June could see a possible return date for the league in which Liverpool are a few points away from securing the Premier League trophy.

Even FIFA extended the contracts of players till when the current campaign actually ends and also postponed the start of the summer transfer window to when the season ends, which will now stretch till the start of the next season.

However, Sam Allardyce also raised questions about how many people will actually be able to watch the games on TV, if they take place behind closed doors. With many having lost their jobs or being forced into pay-cuts, he doubts whether everyone will have the necessary money to actually watch the games.

He explained, “We’re all feeling the benefit - or have felt the benefit - of subscribers paying to watch Premier League football throughout the world."

“But will that happen again? Will people have the money to say that we can pay that much this month to watch the Premier League? I’m not so sure," Sam Allardyce quipped.

“It may come back eventually, when the country turns around, but for the time being I think there’s going to be a shortage of finance. We may all have to adjust for a while before that comes back," he added.

There is a decent chance that this campaign is postponed into the peak summer months, as it could even stretch all the way into August. While some Bundesliga clubs have started training in groups again, giving hope that the Bundesliga could resume quickly, there are still major question marks on when the Premier League will return or whether it’ll be able to finish the campaign at all.