In what could be the shape of things to come for many businesses and football clubs, one Premier League chairman has sounded the alarm bell and noted that his club will run out of money if football doesn’t return by August.
“The fact of the matter is, if we don’t finish the season and there isn’t a clear start date for next season, we, as a club, will run out of money by August,” Burnley chairman, Mike Garlick, told Sky Sports News, cited by the Daily Express.
“That is a fact. I can’t speak for other clubs, I don’t know their financial positions. All I can speak for us, our club and our position. That’s why we’re very determined that when of course it is safe to do so, we really want to finish this season.”
It brings the current situation into much sharper focus, and lays bare the financial burden that everyone is having to bear in what has become an unprecedented time for the whole world.
There must also be a worry as to how clubs outside of the English top flight will be coping under such financial strain.
English Football League teams will arguably struggle more than their Premier League counterparts, and the question will soon surely be asked as to whether all of them have enough in the pot to be able to survive.
Equally, and for the benefit of the health and well-being of the entire population, stakeholders shouldn’t be applying pressure to bring back football before it is completely safe to do so.