At least we’d be talking about something other than the virus

The thing that I find most weird about the current lockdown situation is that there is no football or other our professional sport. At this point we would be having the build up to the Grand National, the Boat Race and the final stages the football season.

The lack of things to bet on has huge implications for the betting industry because so much of their turnover is driven by live sporting events mostly football and horse racing. I don’t know whether it is still the case but it used to be that about a quarter of all the betting each year was on the Grand National.

I’ve been a soccer fan all my life and the default radio station that comes on on in my car is talkSPORT which is managing to fill the hours and days at the moment with sporting discussion even though there is no sport itself taking place.

I just long for normal football weekends to return turn but that seems highly unlikely. My team is Burnley and before soccer was suspended we were going into the final nine games relatively confident of avoiding relegation and looking another season in the Premier League.

Next week a decision is due to be made on what should happen to soccer th Given that the coronavirus crisis looks set to go on for months that raises questions about what happens to promotion and relegation in the Premiership the championship and the Football League in England. This has huge financial implications for the clubs involved.

In my view the best thing that could happen is for the remaining rounds of games to be played but behind closed doors. This is far better than any of the other proposed options like freezing the season where it stands. Maybe a special TV arrangement could be concluded so all fans could watch their teams live.

Mike Smithson