The Sunday Times - UK (2021-12-19)

8 December 19, 2021The Sunday Times

Football

T

he week in which Covid

returned to haunt football

began with a Premier League

statement, issued at ten

minutes to midnight on Mon-

day, confirming that Man-

chester United’s away match

against Brentford had been

postponed.

Privately, United officials were

annoyed that they had to wait until

just before midnight to learn that the

game, scheduled for the following

evening, had been called off. At that

point, United only had nine fit play-

ers. Some, such as Paul Pogba and

Raphaël Varane, were injured, but

most of the absences were down to a

Covid outbreak that had swept

through United’s training ground.

The Premier League had to check

the medical records of those affected,

which is why the decision did not

come until late on Monday.

United were so worried about

Covid that they shut down the first-

team building at Carrington for 24

hours. When it reopened, training on

Tuesday and Wednesday for the unin-

fected players was limited to small

groups. There was no chance for Ralf

Rangnick, the interim manager, to

work on any tactics or team shape due

to a lack of numbers and the fear that

the virus could spread even further.

United’s worst fears were con-

firmed on Thursday, when the latest

round of drive-through tests at Car-

rington showed more cases, reducing

the squad size to seven and forcing the

postponement of their next match

against Brighton & Hove Albion.

Another match that was postponed

on the same day was Leicester City

versus Tottenham Hotspur. Both

clubs had significant outbreaks of

Covid-19, requested a postponement

but were told on Wednesday after-

noon, shortly after managers Antonio

Conte and Brendan Rodgers went

public with their frustrations, that the

match was going ahead. Both pre-

pared with limited numbers, but on

the morning of the game, five more

positive cases emerged at Leicester

and the game was called off.

On Thursday afternoon, Thomas

Frank, the Brentford manager, called

Paul Hirst, Tom Roddy

ANGUS

KINNEAR

Leeds United Chief Executive

The spectre of fixture suspension and

possibly a return to behind-closed-

doors games cannot be discounted,

but I believe we should be confident

of our sport’s ability to overcome the

challenges of Omicron.

At Leeds United, the players’

leadership group decided that

vaccinations would be a pillar of their

solidarity to team-mates and staff, as

well as a civic responsibility. This has

resulted in 99 per cent of our playing

and backroom team being fully

vaccinated, which was the critical

difference in yesterday’s match going

ahead. While everyone I have

encountered in the game believes in

Players who decline

their civic duty to get a

vaccine should prepare

for same consequences

as the rest of society

the sanctity of vaccination being a

personal and free choice, it seems

inevitable that players who decline a

vaccine and are unable to ply their

trade effectively will begin to face

broader and more punitive

consequences — as are being felt

across the rest of society.

At a time when the governance of

football is maligned, the response to

Covid, to date, is one that the game

can be proud immensely of. Of

course, there was the aberration of

the European Super League and the

hasty and erroneous dalliance with

pay-per-view, but both were

mitigated by immediate reversals and

appropriate contrition from the

culprits. But my defining memories,

echoed by clubs up and down the

country, were of our captain Liam

Cooper, agreeing with all of our

players to defer their salaries (while

games were played behind closed

doors) to protect the livelihoods of

backroom staff.

The Leeds United Foundation

team donned PPE to deliver food

parcels to the disadvantaged of

Holbeck while Victor Orta, our

director of football, went on

companionship walks with isolated

residents. Tyler Roberts, the striker,

regularly appeared on Zoom for

HAUNTED BY

for the Premier League to suspend all

matches this weekend in order to

“break the chain” on the Covid crisis.

By that point, one Premier League

club had realised that their medical

department had been the source of

their outbreak. Youth team players

brought in to fill the gaps were now

testing positive too.

This was not down to recklessness.

Anyone entering the training ground

had to test negative. Lateral flow tests

would return showing no signs of

Covid but the more accurate PCR,

which takes far longer to record a

reading, would return a positive

result when the person had already

been allowed into the training

ground.

Another problem facing clubs is the

relative inactivity of players during

isolation. Mateo Kovacic, the Chelsea

midfielder, returned to training this

week after ten days quarantining after

a positive test — as well as six weeks

out with injury — and could do little

more than bike work at home.

Doctors and physios think that inju-

ries are inevitable, particularly now

that rearranged fixtures will have to

be slotted into an already packed

schedule.

Nine of last week’s 20 planned Pre-

mier League fixtures, including yes-

terday’s, were cancelled. Premier

League managers, captains and exec-

utives will take part in a virtual meet-

ing with league officials tomorrow to

determine how best to move forward

without having to endure another dis-

heartening week like this one.

COVID

AGAIN

Whatever is decided

by league officials, no

one wants another

week like the past one