Matt Maher: Only one way to keep the lawyers out... finish the season

The Liverpool boss has the gift of nailing the essence of a subject in just a sentence or two.

If you ever need proof, just look at his message to supporters following last week’s suspension of the Premier League until the first weekend in April.

“I’ve said before that football always seems the most important of the least important things,” wrote Klopp. “Today, football and football matches really aren’t important at all.”

Of course, he is entirely right. The impact of the coronavirus on sport does not matter a jot, not as the full implications of the outbreak become clearer by the day.

Worrying about how, or if, a football season is to be completed or who might survive relegation or miss out on promotion feels somewhat crass when huge swathes of the population are fearing for their families and facing up to the prospect of a lengthy period of isolation and possibly much worse.

But then these discussions are inevitably going to take place. At some point decisions will have to be made on how this season is resolved.

It remains highly unlikely they will be made this week, simply because it is far too early to say when football is actually going to resume.

No-one really thinks it will be back in early April, not when the virus’s peak is expected to be in late May or early June. Last week’s suspension of activity by Uefa, the EFL and the Premier League was essentially an exercise in buying time and all indications are the latter is not going to be in short supply when it comes to finding a workable solution.

Admittedly, some significant decisions could get made this week. Tomorrow’s Uefa teleconference with all 55 of Europe’s national football associations is expected to result in the postponement of Euro 2020.

That will clear time on the calendar for domestic leagues to run deep into the summer but extending the season is not without complications, not least the subject of out-of-contract players who would become free agents after June 30.

At this stage there are clearly more questions than answers and many of the suggestions mooted to this point have, depressingly but unsurprisingly, been rooted in the kind of self-interest sadly all too common in the sport.

West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady received considerable criticism after calling for the season to be declared null and void, meaning no title for Liverpool (25 points clear at the top), no relegation and no promotion from the Championship. But Brady is not the only top flight executive with such a stance and it is worth noting how the fragmented structure of English football means the Premier League effectively operates as its own entity.

Their clubs will meet on Thursday, a day after the EFL holds its own meeting. Quite how much discussion or co-operation there will be between the two remains to be seen.

Brady’s solution seems patently unfair when the season is more than three-quarters played and would undoubtedly lead to litigation from Leeds, Albion and perhaps a few more of those Championship clubs still in with a shout of automatic promotion.

Yet neither would it be particularly sporting to freeze the league, as some have suggested, and relegate the bottom three as they stand. That would include Villa, who have played a game less than their rivals in the relegation battle and would in effect be punished for having reached the Carabao Cup final.

The club’s two billionaire backers, Nassef Sawiris and Wes Edens, and their team of lawyers might have something to say about that.

Having no relegation, promoting Leeds and Albion and having a 22-team Premier League is seen as a possible compromise. It isn’t one which would satisfy the likes of Fulham or Nottingham Forest, who would argue they still had a chance of catching the top two.

No, the best way to keep the lawyers out of it is to exercise a little patience. It does seem a little strange there has been so much emphasis placed on how best to end the current season, for the benefit of the next, at a point when there are no guarantees even that would be able to start on time.

The fairest and best solution is surely to get this season finished, no matter how long it takes and even if it means the following campaign has to be significantly shortened.

It is a far from straightforward plan, not least when it comes to the subject of cup competitions and where exactly they would fit in. But at the very least, everyone will know where they stand before it begins.

That might help resolve issues in the Premier League and top end of the Championship. The larger issue, however, is how the sport goes about supporting those clubs further down the pyramid, those who don’t feel the benefit of broadcasters’ millions and for whom the loss of gate receipts brings the genuine threat of a financial crisis.

True, some top flight cash already filters down to the lower leagues in the form of solidarity payments. Yet it might not prove enough to sustain every club in the months ahead and in unprecedented circumstances, this does not feel the time when those at the top of the sport should be turning their backs on those further down.

It would be nice if, at a time of crisis, football began focusing on the needs of all instead of the individual and provided an example to society of the unity and collective spirit we are all going to require in the weeks and months ahead.