Covid-19 has derailed football's gravy train and that may be a good thing

So as a reference point, we revert to Bill Shankly and his legendary quote: “Football is not a matter of life and death, it’s more important than that”
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Except he was lying, life and death is more important, and now football and sport in general need to wake up to this.

Even before Tuesday’s tragic news of a healthy 15-year-old boy contracting and dying from Covid-19, decisions were needed to be made.

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They need to void the football season immediately, right across the board from Liverpool to Loxwood, put everybody on the same footing, no trophies, no promotion, no relegation, no nothing.

Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool were on the cusp of landing the Premier League titleJurgen Klopp's Liverpool were on the cusp of landing the Premier League title
Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool were on the cusp of landing the Premier League title

Even with my Albion and Worthing FC hat’s on, it’s the only logical thing to do, reset every club who plays competitive football in the UK to where they were last August, and then start again when this madness is finally over.

Bizarrely in the long run, despite some collateral damage along the way, it might actually pull the beautiful game back from the precipice of disaster as it’s become polluted from top to bottom by money.

Naturally Liverpool fans will be up in arms over being denied their first League title in 30 years, but people are dying hourly in that city, does a bit of metal really matter that much?

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And if their moans continue perhaps they should spare a thought for Everton, who were denied through no fault of their own entering, and possibly winning, the European Cup in 85-86 after the events at Heysel.

They’ve moved on from that, so Liverpool can as well.

The same will be said for West Brom and Leeds United fans, but they themselves just need to go to their nearest hospital to discover that in the grand scheme, is promotion to the Premier League that important?

The TV money, some might argue?

When the world returns to some semblance of order that will all change, mark my words. TV and other broadcasting contracts will be re-written, and clubs right across the spectrum will have to cut their cloth accordingly, and players will themselves have to fall in line with the new ground rules, regardless of the tail having wagged the dog for the last decade.

Quite simply indirectly Covid-19 will indirectly derail football’s gravy train for good, which many will see as a positive.

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Case in point, re Sussex football, I went to watch Eastbourne Borough recently, as one of my staff plays up front for them, a traditional properly run football club that unfortunately chased a dream and ended up paying for it.

I know for a fact that they were paying out in player wages £7,000 a week, yet there weren’t 700 in the ground, regardless of any virus, that is simply unsustainable.

This massive reset button pressed by Mother Nature, means thankfully that won’t happen at Priory Lane or any other non league club either locally or nationally for a long, long time, if ever.

And it’s not just football, the world will have enforced changes when all this is over, and every sport that attracts money and sponsorship will have to sustain serious sea changes.

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But if that means professional sport and its participants return to its core values, then many would say that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

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