The Warm-Up: Now the government needs football, it's being asked to do its duty
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Updated 28/04/2020 at 07:57 GMT
Dance, footballers, dance! It's your responsibility to keep national morale high! We never said anything bad about you, promise!
Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp
Image credit: Getty Images
TUESDAY’S BIG STORIES
Premier League urged to return for national morale
It was pretty inevitable that, despite being singled out on a number of occasions as not “doing their part” by assorted members of the British government, just because it was easy to do so and politicians have always thought aiming a kick at footballers has been a straightforward way of gaining approval from the masses, eventually the game would be pressured into returning to suit the whims of those in power.
Various reports over the last few days have suggested the government wants the Premier League to return as soon as possible for the sake of national morale, as if footballers were a modern day version of Dame Vera Lynn or Marilyn Monroe, paraded out in front of the troops to give everyone a bit of pep in their step, regardless of whether it’s safe or sensible to do so.
“I personally have been in talks with the Premier League with a view to getting football up and running as soon as possible in order to support the whole football community,” culture secretary Oliver Dowden said in parliament on Monday. “But, of course, any such moves would have to be consistent with public health guidance.”
Oh, of course. But the wheels are very much turning in regards to the return of football in England, with clubs starting to tentatively return to training, plans being made on how to stage games behind closed doors and everyone looking to Germany, who at this stage appear to be the first major league returning to top level football, to see how that goes.
But the concerns are still so wide and varied that the plain practicalities of the whole thing, never mind the safety of everyone involved, are so delicate that one thing going wrong could bring it all crashing down. And then there’s the strain it could put on things that really matter.
“I feel uncomfortable at this stage talking about football as a narrative with there being stresses on the NHS and that has to be a priority,” Watford chairman Scott Duxbury said.
“Do I want to resume football? Absolutely… I’ll be led by the government. If they say it’s safe and we’re not going to put pressure on the NHS, then fantastic. But I think we have to be led to make sure that it is safe and that we are not rushing.”
Ronaldinho ‘surprised’ his Paraguayan passport wasn’t legal
The more you read about Ronaldinho, the more you have sympathy with his recent troubles. Here seems to be an essentially simple man – in whatever way you want to read that – who has been taken advantage of for most of his career by people who want to leech off his outrageous talent.
The years have seen him do a string of glassy-eyed commercials for companies that, without wishing to be patronising to the great man, you assume he doesn't really know anything about. The stink of a man who was once a great footballer, essentially being treated like a money puppet, made to dance for coin, is impossible to avoid.
But that sympathy only extends so far. As you’ll no doubt know, Ronaldinho was recently released from a spell in a Paraguayan prison, after he was arrested trying to enter the country on a false passport. The fact that the passport was a Paraguayan passport, and the 97 international caps for Brazil certainly at least indicate that Ronaldinho is Brazilian, might well have been the first hint, but the man himself remains bewildered. He said this week:
We were completely surprised to find out that the documents were not legal. Since then, our aim has been to cooperate with the justice [department] in order to clarify the facts as we have done from the beginning. Since that time up to now, we have explained everything and facilitated all that the justice [department] has requested.
Still, it’s easy to mock, and however thick Ronaldinho has been as he awaits trial – a trial that predictably enough has been pushed back amid the current…well, everything – spending time in the chokey is unlikely to have been pleasant.
“[Going to jail] was a tough blow,” he said. “I never imagined that I would go through a situation like this. All of my life I have searched to reach the top level professionally and to bring joy with my football. I hope that they can use and confirm all that we have brought to this case and that we can come out of this situation as soon as possible.”
‘Well…duh’ news: Liverpool push back stadium redevelopment plans
Sometimes news stories take you by surprise because they’re unexpected, but equally news stories can take you by surprise because they’re entirely expected. You’re surprised because the thing being announced is so obvious, you just took it as a given and thus it seems relatively incongruous that it is a news story.
The latest of those came on Monday when Liverpool announced that their plans to develop the Anfield Road stand – the one opposite the Kop where away fans sit – will be put on hold due to the coronavirus crisis. Quite who thought this could possibly be going ahead considering…well, everything, is a little unclear, but we suppose it’s good they told us all for clarity’s sake anyway.
“The complex build programme for Anfield Road is an 18-month process and needs two clear summer closed season windows in order for it to be successful,” Liverpool COO Andy Hughes said in a statement.
“This is why we are pausing on the project for at least 12 months so the earliest we could complete the programme is summer 2023 rather than summer 2022 as originally planned. Given the planning application is no longer time-critical, it is our intention to submit our planning application at some stage during the next 12 months.”
IN OTHER NEWS
Well it’s not the former club of Diego Maradona that we would necessarily have picked, but it’s good to see world leaders support a plucky little outfit from, erm, Dubai. And it’s not the first time ol’ Jair has sported Wasl’s trademark canary either – this was, apparently, at a cabinet meeting…
RETRO CORNER
We’re sure you already knew this, but do remember to wish a very happy birthday to former West Brom, Swindon and Nottingham Forest striker Simon Cox, who turns 33 today. Here’s a frankly silly goal he scored for Forest against Birmingham a few years ago.
HAT TIP
There was a positive vibe on the day and we expected to go up,” he says. “Then we heard the decision and everyone went quiet. Nobody spoke for about 10 minutes. After about half an hour I just went home: what are you going to do? I’m still angry. It’s unbelievable that they make a decision like this. My teammates were all asking: ‘What’s happened here?’ They didn’t understand. We worked so hard all season for this and, in the quiet time over the last month, had thought a lot about how close we were to celebrating with our fans. We just can’t believe it
Cambuur were 11 points clear at the top of the Dutch second tier and heading for promotion to the Eredivisie when the season was voided. For the Guardian, Nick Ames speaks to their captain Erik Schouten.
The man they call Ben Snowball – though he goes by many names – will be in the big chair tomorrow, so don’t even think about not tuning in.
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