Tuesday 12 May 2020 09:44, UK
The Head of the UK Football Police Unit, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts believes football needs a "stark reminder" about the reality of how a return of the season needs to look.
Roberts has become concerned at the reactions towards suggestions of neutral venues being used for a safe return of football.
Brighton and Aston Villa have both spoken out against the idea of finishing the Premier League season at neutral venues.
But Roberts insists public health must be paramount when deciding how best to proceed during the coronavirus pandemic.
Roberts told Sky Sports News: "The things that are starting to concern me a little as we get closer to a potential restart, are some of the conversations and comments we are hearing on the margins by people involved in football I think probably need to recapture the context of where we are.
"You know comments such as 'we might get relegated', 'we don't want to play at neutral venues', 'when we played them away there were fans in the stadium and if we play at home without fans that is a disadvantage' or, 'we want to get the trophy'.
"I get that in a football context these are all a big deal, but in the context where 30,000 people have died and the total is still going up then it's not such a big deal.
"Yes of course we want to work with football, we want to get the seasons back going for the commercial reasons, for the moral reasons for people to enjoy it, but we have to remind ourselves that cannot be at the risk of putting a single further life at jeopardy."
Roberts stressed that his discussions with the Premier League, other leagues and the FA had all been very positive and constructive where safety was the prime concern.
With Prime Minister Boris Johnson to announce new measures around lockdown and social distancing on Sunday, another worry for police and emergency services is if fans were to gather in large numbers outside a stadium to celebrate a title success or avoiding relegation.
Roberts believes the vast majority of fans would adhere to new Government advice, but that it was another sound reason why neutral venues need to be used, should football restart this season.
In terms of a timetable of when football would return, Roberts added: "I'm keen not to pick a date. We are still gathering a lot of medical data so let's see where we are.
"Let's choose to restart at a sensible time. It's all about public health being the prime concern. When a player's contract ends is not a factor for me."
