The difficulties of fitting the rest of the Premier League season into the schedule set out by UEFA has been highlighted by a mock up of Manchester City’s potential fixture list before the end of the season.
The Citizens are in the FA Cup, Champions League and still have the rest of their top flight fixtures to fulfill, But it’s understood that at the UEFA council on Tuesday, the possibility of a June 27 Champions League final was mooted.
ESPN journalist Dale Johnson attempted to plot out the fixture list for the club that would need to play the most games – and worked out that the FA Cup quarter final could only be squeezed in on April 18 (a Saturday).
With the Government set to confirm a three to four-month request to self isolate for those over 70 – and warning that the country is in it for the long haul – that looks to have no chance of being viable, even if the game was played behind closed doors at St James’ Park.
Clubs meet tomorrow with the intention of thrashing out the next move - although a firm conclusion is unlikely.
In short, something has to give and while the FA have spoken about wanting the season to finish – both from a league and Cup perspective - it is very difficult to see how the matches will all be squeezed in with UEFA’s schedule.
In truth, there looks to be little chance - unless the situation vastly improves - of getting the season finished in good time for the next one to begin.
It creates huge problems for the football authorities in terms of finishing this season and starting the next one on time and there’s no clear consensus on what comes next. From a football perspective the only thing that’s certain – for now – is uncertainty.
