‘Constant uncertainty’ – Millwall defender Shaun Hutchinson on training and playing in fresh Covid-19 flare up

Millwall defender Shaun Hutchinson has admitted that the latest aggressive spread of Covid-19 has made playing football a whole lot more unpredictable.

The Lions had an outbreak last week which postponed their home game against Preston North End on Saturday.

The domestic football fixture list was heavily disrupted by the virus, with the Omicron strain significantly more contagious.
Some of Millwall’s squad resumed training at their Calmont Road base on Monday, with the site shut down last week to try and limit infection.

Hutchinson, 31, said: “It’s strange because you’re going into training and every day someone else is having to miss out because they have tested positive.

“You’re thinking, is the game at the weekend on? Are fans going to be there? There is that constant uncertainty, which is not nice as players. Normally you’ve got that bit of a routine – you’re looking forward to the match and training.

“It’s a different challenge and a difficult challenge for us all. I’m sure the manager is probably scratching his head. You can have everything planned and ready and then on Friday morning you can be missing three of your starters.

“Every team is dealing with the same issues. It’s who can manoeuvre their way through it the best. You’ve got to do what you can as a club and then as players be as cautious as you can.

“I know they [the governing bodies] are trying their hardest to keep the games flowing. We’ve got to take every day as it comes. You’re going in every morning to be tested and wondering if you’re going to be available for the weekend.

“It’s hard to get yourself fully focused when there is so much uncertainty. It’s a challenge on its own. You never know what the next day is going to hold.

“At the start of the season we were all excited to get going again. We were buzzing that the fans were back and the love for football felt like it was back again.

“It felt like we had turned a corner but I suppose, at the back of our minds, we didn’t know what the future held with this thing.

“Personally, because I and anyone close to me has not been affected by it too much, I would like to continue. I’m not particularly worried about the health side of continuing, but those making the decisions have a lot more information than I do.

“It seems up and down the country there are big amounts of players who are testing positive. People at the club are coming back from Covid, people are leaving due to Covid – I could go in at the end of this week and be positive.

“It’s almost a bit comical. It doesn’t quite seem right or fair. Being a manager and winning games is hard enough, without having this thrown at you every day.

“Gary Rowett probably won’t know his full selection until 1.30pm for a 3pm game, when all the tests have been done and people get the go-ahead. A lot of things can change until then.”

Scotland’s Government have imposed a 500-capacity limit on sport from Boxing Day, with even more stringent measures in Wales from the same day ensuring no access for supporters.

There have been rumblings since last week that English football was set to head back behind closed doors – as it was for the entire 2020-21 campaign.

“That is just a huge shame,” said Hutchinson, who also had spells at Fulham and Motherwell.

“There have been a lot of good days out and a lot of good memories  from fans in cup matches and performances in other games.

“It looks like the writing is on the wall and that is where we’re heading. We should all be quite experienced at performing in those situations because we have experienced it.

“It’s not the football that we’ve grown up to love or how we want it to be done. But needs must, if that’s what it takes to get the fixtures done in time – I’m sure that’s in the back of their minds.”

Millwall had produced inconsistent displays just prior to the Preston match. And Hutchinson was left particularly disappointed with their showing in the 2-1 loss at Peterborough.

“It’s the lowest I’ve felt in a long time coming off the pitch in a Millwall shirt,” he said. “It’s definitely the worst I’ve seen us perform by a long way.

“We certainly need to bounce back – and we normally do bounce back well. It was a really, really, really poor showing by a lot of us. We had done everything right in the build-up and there was a massive following – it wasn’t like there was no atmosphere, it was a great atmosphere.

“It’s been quite a rollercoaster start to the season. There’s been times when we’ve been winning games and I’m thinking we’ve got a good chance of the play-offs, then you get games like Peterborough that hit you hard.

“We’re supposed to be that team pushing for the play-offs and then we perform like that – it’s nowhere near good enough. Then we probably play our next game and win 2-0. It’s been very inconsistent.

“If you showed the table it looks like it has been decent, not bad, but when you’ve experienced the opportunities we’ve had and games that we’ve thrown away it has made it a more frustrating start to the season. If we can find a little more consistency we can really push on.”