How bad does a Covid-19 outbreak need to be for a game to be postponed? In the middle of a major public health crisis on these shores, that is the question plenty of Premier League clubs are asking after this week.
The situation may have reached a tipping point on Thursday morning when Brentford boss Thomas Frank called on the league to be placed on hold in the run-up to Christmas, as clubs grapple with a rapid rise in cases among their playing squads, with the Bees the latest victims.
But there's plenty of confusion this week over what constitutes an outbreak. There have been four postponements since the weekend, with Tottenham's trip to Brighton being called off, then Manchester United's game at Brentford before Burnley versus Watford fell just two hours before kick-off on Wednesday. On Thursday it was Leicester vs Tottenham that was postponed around seven hours before kick-off.
Both the Foxes and Spurs asked for the game to be called off earlier this week only to be refused, until the situation changed on Thursday morning. Other clubs — such as Brighton and Aston Villa - have played through outbreaks.
The Premier League handbook states that if a club has 14 players available then the game should go ahead, but there is evidently more to it than that and it's left clubs wondering what needs to happen for fixtures to be called off.
It took until just before midnight on Monday for United's trip to Brentford to be officially postponed, but when the club decided to close first-team operations at Carrington earlier in the day there seemed to be no way the game could go ahead.
United have returned to training at Carrington on Wednesday but that bought more positive tests and the outbreak within the club is now well into double figures. They are keeping the Premier League abreast of the situation and privately club sources say they won't be in a "better" situation than they were at the start of the week. In fact, it will be worse than it was on Monday, but so far there's been no decision on this weekend's Old Trafford fixture against Brighton.
Speaking ahead of tonight's game with Tottenham and at a time when it was still on, Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers was asked if the Premier League was leaving itself open to accusations of bias towards some clubs.
“I think you’re on the right lines. For the integrity of the competition, it’s important, but I’m pretty sure games will have been called off where teams have had less players unavailable than we have," he said.
The obfuscation isn't helping anyone. Clubs are keeping a tight lid on case numbers and there is obvious patient confidentiality around anyone catching Covid-19. But there is no avoiding it, especially with the transmissibility of the Omicron variant, and there is no shame in it.
It was Jurgen Klopp who called for greater transparency this week within the league and it would make an awful lot of sense, instead of the current situation where secrecy prevails, clubs don't know where they stand and supporters are being short-changed, travelling to games that have been under threat before news became public.
“I think it would be pretty helpful if we really know what the situation is,” said Klopp.
“From my point of view, I don’t understand 100 per cent why we are not more open. A lot of people catch Covid at the moment. That is how it is. If I catch it, and hopefully not, I would be completely fine to tell people I have it. Why do we hide it — why does nobody know the number of players who have it? It is always a little bit like ‘some staff’ and ‘some players’.
“Come on, say it, and then everyone can understand why you are not able to play and these kinds of things. I would prefer that but I am not sure whether from a legal point of view that is possible. It would be helpful. We just have no idea."
A little bit more openness would certainly help fans and the Premier League. It's hard to get away from the idea that Rodgers might have had United on his mind with his comments earlier in the week.
Having seen the game at Brentford postponed, United will now argue that this weekend's fixture should follow. Under the guidelines they could probably play, although the fact positive cases were still being returned on Wednesday is obviously a factor.
There are the travelling fans from Brighton to consider here, especially given the 12.30pm kick-off time, as well as the numerous United fans who travel from overseas every weekend. They would welcome the veil of secrecy being lifted on the situation at clubs affected. It is the very least they deserve, rather than statements announcing a postponement as the clock is about to strike midnight or just before teamsheets are to be submitted.
It would also stop insinuations from other clubs about potential bias and the unclear situation where some games are being called off and others aren't. The Premier League is being wedged into an impossible position by this outbreak and they will be desperate to try and avoid a full-scale pause to the season, especially with the shortened summer in 2022 ahead of the winter World Cup in Qatar.
If they are to plough on with some postponements, then there needs to be candidness around outbreaks at clubs. Maintaining the integrity of the league will be the balance if games continue and the only way to achieve that might be through clubs being more open over their situations and revealing just how many players are affected.
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