‘Is it time to cancel this Covid-infected season?’
Eye Of The Tigers, a column by Sam Hawcroft
A fan’s thoughts on Hull City
What a weird season this is continuing to be.
I mean, we knew it wasn’t going to be in any way normal, but I think most of us would have expected that by now we’d be much further on in terms of opening stadiums back up to fans.
Seeing images of spectators at the cricket in sunny Sydney – albeit masked and distanced – is a taunting glimpse into a future that, for us, feels unreachable in this grim, bitterly cold, locked-down January.
Instead, City were left without any games between December 18 and January 2, and a Covid-fuelled fixture backlog that looks likely to increase.
It seems odd that elite football is being allowed to limp on like this – the coronavirus situation in this country now is far worse than it was back in March, when matches were halted even before the first lockdown was announced.
Yes, this time around, clubs and leagues have had time to draw up Covid-safe regulations, but how safe are they? There have been numerous incidents up and down the leagues in recent months whereby Covid-positive players have even appeared on teamsheets before hastily being withdrawn and matches allowed to go ahead.
This was the case in September when City travelled to the London Stadium for their Carabao Cup tie with West Ham, whose manager David Moyes and players Issa Diop and Josh Cullen all tested positive.
Had City opposed the match taking place, West Ham would have been given a bye into the next round as the EFL deemed that all protocols had been followed and the risk of transmission was minimal. In the end, the Hammers hammered us 5-1 anyway.
Still, though, the fact that Moyes, Diop and Cullen were in the ground two hours before kick-off, mixing with their teammates, despite having been tested the day before and still awaiting the results – which were only made known to them just over an hour before the match – well, it hardly inspired confidence in the supposedly “stringent” protocols in place.
And in November, six players and four staff at Burton Albion came down with the virus, but the club managed to scrape a team together to fulfil their fixture at the KCOM. Manager Jake Buxton said: “At the training ground and around the football club we are social distancing, wearing face masks and doing all the right things, but ultimately it was only a matter of time before it came into the group.”
I’ve never really understood the idea of being in “bubbles”, and the latest rash of outbreaks in football proves they cannot work effectively unless you literally do not go anywhere with anyone else but your bubble buddies, and, of course, they shouldn’t either.
Footballers have wives, partners, children – who, until the current lockdown, were most likely going to work or school and mixing with others who were doing the same.
The Premier League’s bubbles have been repeatedly breached by high-profile individuals, whether intentionally or by mistake.
Only total isolation from the outside world removes the risk of transmission, and just this week former England star Darren Bent called on the FA to follow the example of the NBA and group players into a bubble until the end of the season, keeping them in a sealed, secure location where they mix only with each other. For the lower leagues, though, this surely wouldn’t be practical or affordable.
And, while the Premier League has cash aplenty for regular Covid testing, again, this isn’t the case the further down the pyramid you go.
It wasn’t until January 11 that the EFL introduced mandatory twice-weekly testing, and after months of clamouring from league clubs the PFA has finally shouldered the costs; it’s unclear how long the regime will last, with EFL chief executive Trevor Birch saying the situation will be under constant review.
It’s been estimated that weekly testing for all 72 league clubs up to the end of the season will cost £5 million – but, as Peterborough’s Barry Fry has pointed out, the PFA has more than £55m in its coffers.
‘FIELDING WEAKENED TEAMS BECAUSE OF COVID DEVALUES THE GAME’: Sam Hawcroft
Should we even continue with the season? For me, former City manager Steve Bruce had it right when he said: “Financially it’s right to play on, but for me, morally, it’s probably wrong. I understand people want to see a game of football but we are just as vulnerable as everybody else.” In his view, playing weakened teams as a result of Covid devalues the game, and I have to agree.
I know we’re still looking like promotion candidates after something of a wobble in December, and I might well change my tune a bit if we do go up, but… none of it really feels real.
‘It would be crueller still to see us promoted and not be there to celebrate’
It was rubbish enough having to watch from afar our abysmal fall from the Championship, but in a way it’d be crueller still to see us promoted and not be there to celebrate it.
If this lockdown lasts well into March, that leaves less than two months to the end of the season. It ain’t looking good, from where I’m standing.
One talking point, in a season that’s been lacking in controversy outside the Covid issue, has been the unseemly dispute surrounding the contract of promising Hull-born star Keane Lewis-Potter.
The 19-year-old’s future remains uncertain after it emerged that he was told he wouldn’t start another game for City until he agreed the terms of a new deal, leaving McCann without one of his key players in the latter stages of his promotion push.
You may have noticed it’s a bit of a running theme of mine to almost relish moaning about City – I think we all do, it’s in our nature – but there is another reason to be cheerful during these dark days, aside from our high-flying league exploits, and that is the fact we’ve quietly reached the quarter-finals of what’s become affectionately known as the Pizza Cup.
NAME ON THE TROPHY?: City are in the quarter-finals of a competition that has affectionately become known as the Pizza Cup
I say quietly – that was until deep into injury time in the Papa John’s Trophy game at home to Fleetwood, when Lewie Coyle unleashed a 30-yard screamer that led to the fantastic word “thunderb*****d” dominating #hcafc Twitter (as well as a raft of dodgy pizza-based puns… hang on – pizza-based… that’s a pun too, isn’t it?).
Last month, writing in the i newspaper online, Daniel Storey proclaimed the age of the long-range goal was over, in the Premier League at least, due to evolving trends in attacking strategies in pursuit of maximum results. Well, tell that to Lewie Coyle. We may be LLS (work it out) at the moment, but if it means we’re statistically more likely to see goals like that, maybe it’s not all bad.
STOP PRESS: Just as I was about to submit this column, City welcomed midfielder Jordan Flores on a free transfer from Dundalk, Ireland. If you look at City’s official Twitter feed, there’s a video of him unleashing a similarly impressive thunderb*****d, so let’s hope he has a few more of those left in his tank. Oh, and Flores retweeted a video of Matt Hancock on Good Morning Britain floundering over the school meals scandal, with the one-word comment, “Embarrassing.” He’s already shot up in my estimation…