Premier League clubs must reassure players there will be no repercussions if they are unwilling to risk their health by returning to action during the COVID-19 pandemic, former England manager Sam Allardyce has said.
Several players have expressed concerns about the league¡¯s plans to resume amid the novel coronavirus outbreak, which has infected more than 4.6 million people globally, causing over 310,200 deaths.
¡°Getting the players fit in four weeks could be done, but that¡¯s the least of their worries. I think the biggest challenge for players will be dealing with the mental side,¡± Allardyce wrote in a column for The Times.
¡°My first point of call as a manager in this situation would be to speak to all the players... find out whether they want to play or not. I¡¯d reassure them there would be no repercussions if they decided they would find it too difficult to play.¡±
Clubs will hold an emergency meeting later on Monday to vote on a return to group training as part of ¡°Project Restart,¡± which envisions a resumption in June.
¡°We will all want to play but we¡¯ll all want to play under safe conditions,¡± Allardyce added.
¡°If they¡¯re too scared... they won¡¯t be able to perform to their best and then they¡¯ll start getting criticized. Some players won¡¯t want to play and that has to be respected.¡±
Former Chelsea doctor Eva Carneiro said players had to be able to make decisions without fear of upsetting their club, particularly their manager.
¡°There are pressures on players to deliver. The manager is a boss who has immense power over your next selection,¡± Carneiro, who left the London club after falling out with then manager Jose Mourinho, told the Times.
¡°We¡¯ve moved away from that image of the manager being a father figure. I understand why there would be a drive to return and a lot of players will want to follow that.
¡°Football is high stakes but we need to lose this fear of upsetting individual entities in this COVID-19 crisis,¡± added Carneiro, who in 2015 was reprimanded by Mourinho for running onto the pitch to treat an injured Eden Hazard.
¡°We need to spread understanding that this is bigger than any single club, manager or player wanting to return.¡±
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