Roy Hodgson on calls for football season to be halted: ‘I’m tempted to ask how wrong we have been in not doing the right thing’

BY SAM SMITH

Roy Hodgson has asked what more the Premier League can do amid calls to halt the football season due to fears over Coronavirus breaches.

The Football Association, the Premier League, the Women’s Super League and the EFL released a joint statement yesterday to enhance Coronavirus guidelines for players and staff.

There had been concerns over high-profile breaches of government restrictions over the Christmas period, but also over on-pitch behaviour such as non-socially distant goal celebrations. However, the organisations are confident that the campaign will continue to a “successful conclusion”.

But continually worrying COVID-19 figures have called that into question. There have been over 370,000 positive cases in the United Kingdom over the last seven days. Yesterday’s 1,248 deaths were the third-highest daily increase of the pandemic.

Crystal Palace boss Hodgson believes elite football is doing its best to prevent the spread of the virus. The Premier League has strict protocols for players, staff and those working at matches.

“I think it’s a big topic. I’m tempted to ask how wrong we have been in not doing the right thing. It’s been going on for nine months since the first lockdown,” the former England boss said.

“In terms of what the Premier League have done, the protocols that have been put in place, I honestly do believe that we are trying our level best. There have been one or two mishaps, especially over the Christmas period, but I don’t think it’s fair to suggest that suddenly football is running amok with people totally misbehaving and totally doing the wrong thing.

“I think there’s another element to be considered – when football was brought back, we knew it wasn’t going to be easy to bring it back, to keep ourselves safe and keep everybody else safe during the coronavirus period.

“But it was decided then that it would be a good thing if it comes back and we made this effort because the suggestion was that people in the country wanted it. You know, for people’s entertainment, their mental health issues, it was good to have football out there.

“I think that that should be brought into the equation as well before we are suggesting all of a sudden that we in football are doing exactly what we like and showing no regard for the rules. Because in my opinion, that hasn’t been the case.”

The Eagles have been involved in two of those high-profile breaches since Christmas. Club captain Luka Milivojevic was pictured mixing households with Fulham skipper Aleksandar Mitrovic on New Year’s Eve. The latter’s club had fixtures cancelled due to a COVID-19 outbreak.

Last weekend, Ebere Eze visited former club Queens Park Rangers to watch their FA Cup tie against Fulham.

Hodgson does not think footballers are an easy target for criticism – but suggested that some criticism has been unfair.

“[Football] is obviously a target, certainly, because there’s so little else going on. I presume that we have cameras on us as well, so if someone is caught shaking hands when he shouldn’t shake hands, and someone’s caught giving someone a hug or putting his arm around someone when he shouldn’t do, it’s on camera. So we do have a bit more responsibility in that respect.

“But no, I’m not suggesting that we’re an easy target at all. What I’m suggesting is that if football is to continue, people should sometimes at least give us some credit that we are trying very, very hard to follow the rules and we understand the need to follow the rules.

“We understand that when some people step out of line and do something that they shouldn’t do, other people locked up for long periods of time are going to say: ‘You shouldn’t have done that because I can’t do that’. We understand all of that.

“But I think sometimes the criticism at the moment is becoming a bit harsher than in my opinion than it needs to be.”