Premier League football could return 'within weeks'

Premier League football could return within weeks with plans for matches to be played behind closed doors, Sky News understands.

Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden has been in talks with the governing bodies of a number of major sports, and football is expected to be the first to get the green light to resume.

Detailed discussions have reportedly been taking place with officials from Public Health England on the criteria that would have to be met for that to happen because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

A Whitehall source told Sky News: “We are working hard to get live sport back on the TV.

“It’s not the same as being at the ground but it would give the country a huge lift.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson – who himself caught coronavirus – has been briefed on the plans for Premier League matches to be played behind closed doors, according to The Sun.

The newspaper reports that the priority is to finish the season, which would allow the transfer window to open and enable money to trickle down the football pyramid.

Other football leagues and sports, such as tennis, cricket and horse racing, could also return.

amie Carragher, former Liverpool player and Sky Sports Analyst, said the football season must be allowed to finish, but only if it is safe to do so.

“I don’t think the football authorities or the Premier League will decide, the virus will decide,” he told Sky News.

“Until it’s safe and sound for everyone to go back to playing football… I think it’ll be a while for that, then I think it is right that we try and get the football finished.

“I said straight away how much I miss football when it stopped, and it’s difficult to say things like that because of the pandemic we’re going through.

It’s affecting so many people, it’s heart-breaking when you see what’s going on and I’m well away of that.

But I don’t think we should shy away from how much football means to people and what it does for people in their general lives.

“So I do get the fact that it could give people a lift, and I think it will do if the football comes back. But as I said before, the virus will decide.”

A government spokesman said: “Ministers continue to work with sports governing bodies on how live sporting events can resume in the future.

“This can only happen once we have passed the five tests for easing social distancing measures.”

To make sure the NHS can cope by providing sufficient critical care across the UK

To see a sustained and consistent fall in daily death rates with confidence the UK is beyond the peak

Reliable data to show the infection rate is falling to manageable levels

There is enough testing and personal protective equipment (PPE) to meet future demand

Any changes in restrictions would not lead to a second peak

Sky News sports presenter Jacquie Beltrao said smaller football clubs could “start to go out of business” due to the current situation.

“They of course rely on their gate receipts, they rely on their crowd every other weekend to make them money, that isn’t happening,” she said.

Former England and Manchester United player Gary Neville, who is a co-owner of League Two side Salford City, has urged the Premier League to put its hand in its pocket and help save the game.

He told The Football Show on Sky Sports: “They have a huge opportunity here to do the right thing and prop the game up.

“Basically, borrowing at this time, three or £400m, £500m – which is a more than affordable number, doing a soft deal with a bank on a loan to give the FA, the EFL, players, whoever it is…

“…I’ve gone from anger to despair, to almost now pleading with somebody at the Premier League, to just do the right thing for the game.”

On Saturday, former chancellor Philip Hammond called on ministers to set out plans to begin easing the lock down and re-start the economy.

With the prime minister expected to return to Downing Street next week, Mr Hammond said he hoped it would mark a “clear step change” in the government’s response to the crisis.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “The reality is that we have to start reopening the economy, but we have to do it living with COVID.

“We can’t wait until a vaccine is developed, produced in sufficient quantity and rolled out across the population. The economy won’t survive that long.

“But we are going to have to do it alongside the measures that are in place to protect the population.”