English Premier League Suspended Until Further Notice Due To COVID-19 Outrbreak
The English Premier League has suspended the football season until further notice.
The news comes after clubs in England's top-flight league met to discuss their contingency plans earlier on Friday.
The Premier League’s powers-that-be originally decided to postpone matches until the 3rd of April, due to the rapid spread of the Coronavirus within the UK, and teams were set to resume play on the 30th of the same month.
Players will now be asked to take a thirty percent pay cut in order to help protect the jobs of other club staffers, and a donation to the tune of 20 million will be made from the Premier League’s clubs to the British NHS.
The delay will come as a hammer blow for current league leaders Liverpool, who were on course to win their first title in three decades, and led second-placed Manchester City by 25 points before play was initially called off.
Fears have now arisen that the season could be declared “null and void” should it not resume before June or July, meaning that German coach Jurgen Klopp’s side would be denied a historic chance to be crowned champions once again.
In the same scenario, strugglers Norwich City, Aston Villa and AFC Bournemouth, sitting in 20th, 19th and 18th place respectively, would by the same token potentially avoid relegation to the Championship, which would both save their fans' pride and bolster the clubs' finances substantially.
The English FA, and indeed football associations throughout Europe, will now continue to deliberate on when the football season can resume, and if not, then on how it should best be concluded.
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