Premier League: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested players should consider going on strike to demand a reduction in their workload, after a managers meeting with the Premier League bore no fruit as the league decided to go ahead with fixtures despite the COVID-19 crisis. Follow Premier League live updates on InsideSport.IN Also read: […]
Premier League: Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has suggested players should consider going on strike to demand a reduction in their workload, after a managers meeting with the Premier League bore no fruit as the league decided to go ahead with fixtures despite the COVID-19 crisis. Follow Premier League live updates on InsideSport.IN
League officials met with club captains and managers to discuss their concerns, but Tottenham manager Antonio Conte summed up the situation by saying that the meeting felt like a waste of time. Now Pep Guardiola has added fuel to the fire, suggesting that direct action may be required before the game’s authorities heeded concerns over demands placed on players.
Premier League: Pep Guardiola issues players strike threat, other managers chime in regarding player welfare during COVID-19 outbreak, check details
“Should the players and the managers be all together and make a strike? Just through words it’s not going to be solved. For Fifa, the Premier League, the broadcasters, the business is more important than their welfare. The simplest example is all around the world they have five substitutions; here it’s still three. Tell me one argument to take care of players’ welfare than this one? Here, where everyone decides for themselves, we didn’t do it.”
🚨 NEW: Jordan Henderson has says he is concerned that “nobody really takes player welfare seriously.”
“I don’t think people can appreciate how intense it is until you actually see it first hand. I am concerned that nobody really takes player welfare seriously.” #awlive [bbc] pic.twitter.com/CAicaOWwX1
Top-flight players are not too pleased with the developments. Some like Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson have already gone public to air their views.
“Nobody really takes player welfare seriously. I don’t think people can appreciate how intense it is until you actually see it first hand. I am concerned that nobody really takes player welfare seriously.
Premier League: Pep Guardiola issues players strike threat, other managers chime in regarding player welfare during COVID-19 outbreak, check details
“I think decisions get made – of course we want to play as footballers, we want to get out there and play – but I am worried about player welfare and I don’t think anybody does take that seriously enough, especially in this period, when Covid is here,” the Liverpool skipper was quoted as saying.
Postponements continue
Burnley vs Everton
Liverpool vs Leeds
Wolves vs Watford
Players are also unhappy with the Premier League over a lack of direct communication. Regular meetings held with club captains during Project Restart have not continued and this week’s meeting had been postponed from Monday until Thursday. Among elite players there is concern not only over playing a condensed fixture list during a Covid outbreak but also over upcoming changes like the World Cup, an expanded Champions League and now potentially a World Cup every two years.
Managers concerned over player welfare
Crystal Palace manager and former Arsenal legend Patrick Vieira has said that while the idea of a players strike will not be supported by him, but he is concerned over pushing anyone back into action too soon after recovering from coronavirus.
Premier League: Managers like Rafael Benitez of Everton & Patrick Viera of Crystal Palace have expressed concerns regarding pushing players during COVID-19
“I don’t know if they would be right to do it, the only thing I can tell you is I am against this kind of strike,” Vieira said. “What is really important at the moment is the voice of players or managers should be heard a little bit more.”
Premier League: Pep Guardiola issues players strike threat, other managers chime in regarding player welfare during COVID-19 outbreak, check details
“I am not worried about the players’ welfare regarding the games during this period because it has been like that for years and years. What I am worried about is the players’ welfare regarding Covid.
“I think players coming back from a Covid situation and asking them to play, having not had enough training, is a lot on them. This is what I am worried about.”
Norwich manager Dean Smith echoed along similar lines. While he will not be supporting a players strike, COVID-19 is a serious problem for players, he felt.
Premier League: Pep Guardiola issues players strike threat, other managers chime in regarding player welfare during COVID-19 outbreak, check details
“I don’t think you can (support a strike). We have to follow the guidelines of the league that we are in. However, I think we are in a dangerous situation now, where we are risking the health and welfare of the players.”
Everton manager Rafael Benítez outlined the issues he has with playing on amid the current COVID-19 outbreak.
“It’s quite dangerous for us,” Benitez said. “Because of the circumstances of this game, we have to play players that maybe are not ready, maybe have some knocks or some issues or maybe have to play out of position.
“The reality is that some of these players like Dominic [Calvert-Lewin] who have been out for four months, so we have players that will have knocks and we will have to push them. We have to play players that maybe are not fit and who would take responsibility something happen?”
Premier League: Pep Guardiola issues players strike threat, other managers chime in regarding player welfare during COVID-19 outbreak, check details
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