Football has no room for gimmicks, says Canaries legend
Iwan Roberts say football has found itself in an impossible situation as it plots its immediate future - but insists that the game must remain pure to its roots.
The Premier League is expected to make a step forward on Monday as it battles to solve the issues forced on it by the worldwide coronavirus outbreak.
Football at the top level was suspended on March 13, and has been wrestling with an acceptable resolution to the season ever since.
With the government announcing a partial relaxing of lockdown restrictions, football could move a step further towards deciding whether the season will be finished – and in what form.
Norwich City legend Roberts has sympathy with the conundrum facing the powers that be, but says nothing should be done that changes the fundamental principles of the game - and that includes shortened halves or the wearing of face masks.
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“I am not having this having to wear face masks,” said Roberts. “As a player you can’t play physical sport covering your mouth and nose – it is impossible – and saying they might cut the lengths of games ... the rules have to be the same as the other 29 or 30 games that have been played.
“I know some fans will hate it, but if there is a chance and it is safe for the remaining games to be completed and it had to be behind closed doors, I would accept that.
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“You look at Leicester in third and Wolves and Sheffield United, who are five points from a top four place and a place in Europe.
“I am just so glad it is not me who has to sit down and make the decision because it is nearly an impossible one to do.
“I also and think there is a lot of talk about making the season null and void and we start again in September or October time, If that was to happen and we got to a second phase of this awful, awful disease, we are in the same scenario and will, have to cancel another season.
“Germany is starting soon and I think with this situation you go day by day, week by week. I definitely do think a decision has to be made one way or another before a certain date because it is not fair to anybody to drag it out. If there has to be a cut-off date do it, fine, if we are not able to do that then you have to then null and void the season and find some ways of placating those clubs in the Championship.”
