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Professional Footballers\u2019 Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has raised the possibility that halves may be shorter than 45 minutes as discussions continue about the Premier League\u2019s return.<\/p>\nProfessional Footballers\u2019 Association chief executive Gordon Taylor has raised the possibility that halves may be shorter than 45 minutes as discussions continue about the Premier League\u2019s return.<\/p>\n
English top-flight clubs underlined their commitment to restarting the 2019-20 season on Friday, but said \u201cit was agreed that the PFA, LMA, players and managers are key to this process and will be further consulted\u201d.<\/p>\n
Welfare and well-being of individuals returning to work is key and Taylor will pore over the plans as the Premier League looks to resume in mid-June.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey\u2019re not stupid,\u201d he told BBC Radio 4\u2019s Today program. \u201cThey will put safety first.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is a protocol being put together that is going to be presented, involving all medical experts and Government medical experts.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere will be a meeting of the shareholders of the Premier League on Friday and then shortly after that the document of returning to work should be finalized and then in the following week, next week, as early as possible, that will be put to players and coaches.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the practicality of all those issues and it will be looked at club by club.\u201d<\/p>\n
Put to Taylor it would benefit some clubs for the Premier League not to finish and it was decided all matches are void, he said: \u201cWe\u2019ll have to wait and see. I\u2019m talking about a protocol that\u2019s coming out. I\u2019m talking about the future.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t know the future. What we do know is what propositions have been put, what ideas have been put, the possibility of having more substitutes, games possibly not being the full 45 minutes each way.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s talks of neutral stadiums. There\u2019s been lots of things being put forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cTry and wait and see what the proposals are, and then have the courtesy to let the managers and coaches and players also assimilate all those and come to a considered view.\u201d<\/p>\n
Taylor does not expect matches to be played until the \u201cmiddle of June\u201d and Health Secretary Matt Hancock would welcome the Premier League\u2019s return in the right way.<\/p>\n
\u201cWell, I\u2019m absolutely open to that, and horse racing too,\u201d he told the Today program.<\/p>\n
\u201cI know that the both the Premier League and racing are working on how this might be doable in a safe way but that safety has to be paramount.\u201d<\/p>\n
Asked whether Premier League football could return next month if they managed to get enough regular checks, Hancock said: \u201cWell, I\u2019m open to that but we\u2019ve got to make decisions about what the relative priorities are of all the different things that could be reopened and do everything we can at the same time to keep R down, which is why the test, track and trace system is important and why it\u2019s so important that we\u2019ve now got a globally-leading testing capability, more than 100,000 tests a day capacity.<\/p>\n
\u201cReally, really important that we\u2019ve got that in place now.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe got in place on time, so that we can do these sorts of things, so that we can help to control the spread, whilst amending in due course when it\u2019s ready for some of the lockdown arrangements.\u201d<\/p>\n