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‘The Premier League has a duty to attend’: Watford joins Brighton and Aston Villa to become the last club to join the project’s restart proposal … as the parties prepare to shut the horns on plans to resumption at Monday’s meeting
- Watford is the last Premier League team to publicly oppose Project Restart
- League chiefs face opposition from sides like Aston Villa and Brighton
- Several clubs feel that ‘neutral ground’ compromises the integrity of the league
- The 20 parties will meet on Monday to continue discussing the project’s restart plan.
- Here we show you how to help people affected by Covid-19
Stuggling Watford is the last side to file complaints publicly with the proposal to restart the Premier League project.
Watford, who was ranked 17th at the time of league-wide closure due to the coronavirus pandemic, joined Aston Villa and Brighton to worry about the plan to resume the current campaign in ‘neutral’ stadiums.
Speaking to the Times, Watford Chief Executive Scott Duxbury insists the league has a “duty of care” with teams that fear the “distorted nine-game mini-league,” which is how he describes what he proposes. Project Restart with a batch of neutral land considered eligible to host matches.
Watford is the last part to raise issues about the project’s restart plan to restart the season
Watford boss Scott Duxbury believes the Premier League has a ‘duty to care’ to acknowledge complaints from clubs planning to oppose the plan to use neutral grounds to end 2019-20
“There are 20 different vested interests that sometimes align, but most of the time they work exclusively to protect each individual club,” Duxbury said.
“That is why some clubs are happy to sign up for Project Restart because there is possibly only one advantage to participating in this committed format; it means Liverpool can win the title, other clubs can reserve their place in Europe next season or fight to move up the board from a safe position.
“But when at least six clubs, and I suspect there are more, are concerned about the distinct downside and devastating effects of playing in this kind of distorted nine-game mini-league, then I think the Premier League has a duty to address those concerns.
Both Villa Park and Brighton’s AMEX Stadium have been designated as “neutral” potential venues, but with Duxbury joining Brighton’s boss Paul Barber and Villa’s Christian Purslow in public just days before Monday’s shareholder meeting, a unanimous agreement of the 20 clubs seems somewhat off.
Aston Villa (pictured) and Brighton have expressed concern about playing in neutral venues
Brighton boss Paul Barber says he will vote against completing the season on neutral ground
There are 92 top-tier games left, and according to the guidelines for the project’s restart plan, the action would resume on June 8 and the remaining matches would be staggered each day in neutral locations to appease broadcasting organizations.
Much of the opposition to neutral stadiums comes from sides at risk of relegation to the Championship, as it is feared that removing the home advantage could have a devastating impact on their match.
On Thursday, Police Officer Mark Roberts, the UK’s chief football police officer, urged clubs opposing the Reboot Project plans to “control”.
Roberts told dissident clubs to stop complaining about neutral locations when ‘30,000 people died’ of COVID-19 in the UK.
Monday’s meeting will cover a variety of topics, from the classification of players out of contract, the topic of neutral places to the outline of the protocol to allow players to return to training as their counterparts in Germany and Spain have done.
The Bundesliga in Germany will be the first major European league to return to action when it returns behind closed doors starting May 16. Elsewhere, the French government made the decision to cancel the first and second levels with prohibited actions until September.
Norwich is believed to be one of the clubs interested in eliminating relegation this season
The games could be played at Old Trafford as part of the restart of the Premier League project
Monday’s meeting will be a key signifier in terms of how the restart of the project will progress in the days and weeks ahead.
The final vote on whether to resume the season won’t take place until May 18, a week on Monday, amid continued infighting between clubs, but solving the complex issues surrounding the players’ contracts would represent a significant step toward the return of the Premier League. next month.
The players’ contracts expire on June 30, which presents a major problem for clubs, as even in the best case scenario in which the Premier League resumes on June 12, the national season would continue until August.
As a result, the Premier League has proposed a series of amendments to its rules, which will be presented to clubs in a conference call on Monday.
