Liverpool icon Jamie Carragher has offered his thoughts on what it will be like when football eventually returns.
All Premier League action was abandoned earlier this month due to the coronavirus outbreak, putting the Reds' title celebrations on hold.
On Thursday, in a joint statement released by the Premier League, EFL and FA it was announced all elite level football in England will be postponed until April 30 at the earliest.
Responding to the latest postponement in his column for The Telegraph, Carragher said: "There are many millions of supporters who, like me, cannot contemplate a world without football.
"We are born into a society where football shapes our identities, and where the opportunity to ally ourselves to a club fulfils, excites or infuriates us. It goes beyond mere entertainment, which is why we go back season after season, good times and bad.
"Whenever a team wins a league title, a cup, or gets promoted, how often will you hear a supporter say it is the greatest moment ‘aside from the birth of their children’? They will be laughing when they say it, but they mean it. For a large proportion of the population our team’s greatest success, the journeys to finals and the shared feeling of joy in victory, truly are the most memorable experiences of our lives.
"Equally, when our clubs are in peril due to relegation or financial stress, the reaction of fans - ranging from heartache when the cameras capture their tears, to the fury of protesters demonstrating against an incompetent boardroom - underlines how profoundly the game affects us.
"When football stopped last week and the days passed with it becoming increasingly obvious it will not resume for several months, I must admit I felt a bit lost. It left a void."
The former Reds defender continued: "Equally, I see the next few months as an opportunity the likes of which, although unwanted, our generation could never have contemplated.
"Wherever the next game kicks-off in English football - whoever is participating - it will mean the country is on its way back. The shared sense of relief, anticipation, celebration will be like nothing we have witnessed. It can bring the country together.
"When the next whistle is blown to symbolise our return to normality, football will stop seeming so inconsequential. It will matter to the world more than ever."
