Ex-FA boss Greg Dyke warns Premier League over voiding season

Former FA chairman Greg Dyke has warned that the Premier League will face legal action if the season is declared null and void.

Dusk falls over The Shankly Gates at Anfield, the home of English Premier League leaders Liverpool FC. Picture: Getty Images

The former Football Association chairman Greg Dyke has warned that the Premier League will face legal action and potentially huge financial losses if the season is declared null and void because of the coronavirus.

Karen Brady, the vice-chairman of relegation-threatened West Ham United, has called for the season to be cancelled for football at all levels, including the Premier League. Dyke’s successor at the FA, Greg Clarke, has also told clubs that he believes it will be “unfeasible” to finish the season.

But Dyke emphatically rejected those suggestions and his view was endorsed by Kenny Dalglish, the most recent Liverpool manager to win the title, who insisted the season had to be played out until its conclusion. 

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The current campaign has been suspended until April 3 but many figures in sport believe that the disruption caused by the pandemic will last much longer than that. UEFA is expected to take the decision on Tuesday to postpone the Euro 2020 championships for a year.

Dyke said that declaring the season void would be unfair and “send some fans nuts”, as well as the more serious financial implications, with broadcasters potentially refusing to pay TV money and a lack of gate receipts threatening the existence of struggling clubs.

He told The Times: “It doesn’t make sense to try to cancel the season. We are assuming that Euro 2020 is not going to happen, so you have to complete the season even if that means playing into August and delaying the start of next season.

“You might even have to play behind closed doors to fulfil the contracts for the broadcasters, otherwise they are just not going to pay up, and that could mean hundreds of millions of pounds. You may even have to play three matches a week just to get them done.

“I can see if you are a Norwich fan or of a team like West Ham, you might be delighted if the season was cancelled. At a club like Leeds (top of the Championship), their fans would go nuts. You can also imagine clubs taking legal action, especially the more litigious ones.”

The Professional Footballers’ Association will oppose any restart until players are deemed to not be at risk. The Premier League’s official line is that it will aim to complete the remaining quarter of the season. UEFA also aims to complete its Champions League and Europa League tournaments, fearing that to not do so would mean that broadcasters will not pay the TV money for the season.

In his column for Scotland’s Sunday Post newspaper, Dalglish called on the football authorities to show “patience and strong leadership”, adding: “My first thought is that we must be given time to finish the competitions in our own backyard. If that means we need to play every second night for three weeks during May, or even into June, so be it.”

The virus continued to take its toll on football across Europe over the weekend, with the former Manchester City defender Eliaquim Mangala one of five Valencia players to have tested positive.

Mangala wrote on Twitter: “I’m feeling good and have no symptoms … however I am confined in (my) house and separated from my family.”

Earlier on Sunday, Ezequiel Garay, Mangala’s teammate, became the first La Liga player to confirm that he has the virus.

“It’s clear that I have got off to the wrong start in 2020,” he said. “I feel very good and now I just have to listen to the authorities and remain isolated.”

The president of Swiss football, Dominique Blanc, 70, has also tested positive.

Italy’s football federation will ask for Euro 2020 to be postponed in the hope of being able to complete the Serie A season.

THE TIMES