Premier League restart date to be pushed back further

It appears to be a certainty that the return of the English Premier League would be pushed back pending confirmation via a video meeting scheduled on Friday.

The Premier League is currently in talks with the Football League as well as both the PFA (Professional Footballers' Association) and LMA (League Managers' Association). All the 20 clubs competing in the Premier League will meet in a video conference. It has been understood that all the clubs have accepted that there is currently no hope of playing professional games immediately after the current deadline of April 30 is over.

Reportedly, the league authorities could move back the restart date further into May. Or possibly, they might follow the path led by France and Spain, who have suspended their respective domestic leagues for an indefinite period.

Although Italy has spoken about restarting Serie A by late May, that idea seems less optimistic, given the unprecedented rise of the coronavirus pandemic.

Italy has witnessed the worst impact of the deadly virus, as the country has seen nearly 14,000 deaths already with more than 115,000 total cases having been registered. Spain is second with over 10,000 deaths and more than 112,000 cases. Italy and Spain happen to be the only two countries to have witnessed five-figure death tolls.

The UK is also badly hit by COVID-19 as over 33,000 contamination cases have been reported, while nearly 3,000 people have died. Amidst such turmoil, it is very much unlikely for football fans to witness their favourite sport return anytime soon.

If the Premier League's restart date is pushed back as expected, it would allow the clubs an opportunity to offer their medical staff and respective stadiums to the National Health Service as a means to mitigate the health concerns related to the novel coronavirus.

BBC reports that Tottenham Hotspur, along with three other clubs are using the UK government's furlough scheme to compensate their laid-off workers by an amount of up to £2,500-a-month.

However, it has come to notice that despite the current situation and economic crunch, the Spurs' players and team manager Jose Mourinho are being given full pay.

Some of these high-paid personalities earn more than £100,000-a-week, which has drawn controversies and contributed to the club's negative publicity.