The remaining games of the 2019-20 Premier League season could be played starting in July for four to six weeks.
A report from Football.London claims that the Premier League clubs had a phone call on Saturday with the English FA and Football League and a loose agreement is in place to play all games from July behind-closed-doors, if the coronavirus pandemic doesn’t deteriorate further in the UK.
Per the report “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.”
Currently the Premier League and Football League seasons are suspended until April 30 and it is expected that that date will be pushed back further amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
The Premier League have stated the 2019-20 campaign has been ‘extended indefinitely’ but many concerned parties are now wondering how this will impact the 2020-21 season. The PL is set to meet again on Friday to discuss new potential dates moving forward and how player contracts which run out on July 1 will be handled.
With Liverpool on the verge of winning their first league title in 30 years, plus the Champions League qualification and relegation spots still to be determined, there is a huge appetite from everyone connected with the Premier League to play out the rest of the current season, whenever that will be.
Having games played in empty stadiums isn’t ideal but it seems like a return to having games in front of full stadiums is a long way off in Europe and elsewhere. Getting the final nine games played as quickly as possible has to be the aim and this scenario would actually make sense.
Premier League players could relax in the coming weeks as the worst of the pandemic hits, then they could start a mini preseason in mid-May and start games in July. Squeezing the end of the 2019-20 season into the end of July would be just like having preseason games, then there could be a quick break before the 2020-21 season started.
Apparently there are plans in place to scrap the FA Cup replays and potentially the League Cup in 2020-21 to create some extra time for the start of the league season to be delayed.
All of this is currently hearsay but this proposal seems like the most logical yet with the end of the 2019-20 season essentially acting like a preseason for 2020-21.