Matt Maher: Moral? Maybe not but football offers hope

Yet when not losing his temper on the touchline, the former Sheffield United, Cardiff and at present Middlesbrough manager is an articulate and considered character. He demonstrated so yet again this week, when asked whether football needs to take a break in the wake of the worsening coronavirus pandemic.

“I don’t think so, no,” replied Warnock. “Mentally, I think you’ve got to have something to look forward to. Everything is depressing at the moment. Everybody’s chin is on the ground and there is no good news.

“If you are not careful, you can go out and bang your head against a wall. We have to give them (the fans) something they can look forward to, even if you don’t get the right result or you pick the wrong team, it gives them something to look forward to.”

Whatever your view on Warnock and whether or not you feel the season should be halted, it was easy to understand his point.

Then again, it was impossible not to also empathise with Steve Bruce who, at just a few miles up the road from Warnock in Newcastle, expressed his belief it is ‘morally wrong’ for sport to continue when the rest of the country is in crisis.

Bruce has first-hand experience of the pandemic after the virus ripped through his squad last month. At least two players are still feeling the effects of the disease, while one staff member was nearly hospitalised.

“I know watching football gives a lot of people enjoyment, but for me morally it is wrong,” he said. “I’ve seen people here get very, very sick. If that’s not serious enough [to stop playing] what will be?”

Bruce’s words are the kind which should really end any debate. Why then, if we are being entirely honest with ourselves, does the question of whether elite sport should continue feel rather more difficult to answer?

Of course, it is only football – and football in a form entirely removed from how we would want it. The sense of discomfort, present ever since the Premier League resumed without supporters in attendance last summer, has never felt more pronounced than now.

And yet even without its soul and with most of the colour erased, the football season is doing some good; the fixture list providing an element of structure to a world shorn of its natural order. Each game is a target, a beacon in the void, another step back toward some semblance of normality.

“I think it is important the season carries on. It is providing a relief to people who have other pressures in their lives,” said Neil Dady, chair of the Wolves Fans’ Parliament.

Like every other supporter, Dady is looking forward to Saturday’s derby with Albion. The date everyone immediately looked for when the fixtures were released is still the highlight on the calendar, even in a behind closed doors setting. Like every other match right now it is also a blessed distraction from the grim reality elsewhere.

“One of the things I’ve realised over the last few months is how much I miss going to the games,” admits Dady.

“I think the value of this season will always be questioned. There will always be an asterisk against it.

“But I do think it is providing a bit of light amid the darkness, a bit of structure in people’s lives which otherwise isn’t there.”

As much as football might be aiding the mental health of supporters, there can also be no ignoring the financial and logistical pressures effectively keeping the campaign on the rails.

Were it not for the huge amount of money the Premier League risks losing, you have to believe a temporary halt to the season would already have been called.

But with the European Championships starting just three weeks after the scheduled finish, there is simply no slack in the calendar for even the shortest of stoppages.

Factor in the level of distrust between clubs and the concern – highlighted this week by Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo’s comments about a ‘Super League’ – that some might attempt to use the crisis to their own advantage and it is easy to understand why the Premier League intends to plough on and hope for the best.

To do that requires continued government support. Retaining that backing is why the league this week toughened its Covid-19 rules, while again reminding players of their responsibilities.

It is highly questionable whether any member of the public who has previously followed guidelines to the letter through 10 months of a pandemic, would suddenly change tack after seeing a group of footballers celebrating a goal.

But when the sport is under scrutiny, being seen to do the right thing is important.

Players, of course, are only human. As obvious as that sounds, it is frequently forgotten.

Last week former Wolves midfielder Kevin McDonald, now with Fulham, claimed players were currently being treated like ‘guinea pigs’. He will not be the only player asking why the season must continue?

Players might be in a more fortunate position than many in other industries, yet they have families too and the same fears of how the virus, if passed on, might affect their loved ones.

Perhaps in the coming days and weeks there will come a point where the number of cancellations and cases means there is no option but for the season to stop.

In the meantime it feels fair to ponder the morality of playing on, while also hoping football finds a way to do so.