Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom on whether football needs a Covid break amid rising cases

It appeared to be one after another, after another.
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Shefield United were among the first to have one of their matches fall victim to the rising number of Covid cases when Monday’s clash with QPR at Bramall Lane was called off the day before due to an outbreak at the West London club.

Then Premier Leauge games began to fall, with Manchester United’s match against Brentford postponed, followed by Burnley against Watford and then Tottenham v Leicester and in the EFL, the big ‘P’ was placed beside an increasing number of fixtures, including Sheffield Wednesday’s match against Accrington at Hillsborough. Those announced on Thursday will not be expected to be the last called off this weekend.

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Brentford manager Thomas Frank subsequestly called for the Premier League to strike off this upcoming round of matches in a bid to allow clubs to better prepare themselves as cases continue to rise across the country.

Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom would not be in favour of football shutting down for a period as Covid cases continue to rise. Picture: Ashley Crowden / SportimageSheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom would not be in favour of football shutting down for a period as Covid cases continue to rise. Picture: Ashley Crowden / Sportimage
Sheffield United manager Paul Heckingbottom would not be in favour of football shutting down for a period as Covid cases continue to rise. Picture: Ashley Crowden / Sportimage

"The Covid cases are going through the roof at all Premier League clubs," said Frank.

"Everyone is dealing with it and everyone has a problem at this moment in time.

"To postpone this round [of Premier League games] and the Carabao Cup would give everyone a week at least to clean and do everything at the training ground so everything is fine and we break the chain at every club."

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While Frank was speaking specifically about the top flight, there will surely soon be similar calls within the EFL, though given the precarious state of finances in these divisions, there probably won’t be too many.

Clubs are still dealing with the financial fall-out from Covid last season and will be loathe to see matches postponed, particularly at this time of year.

Sheffield United boss Paul Heckingbottom took what he admitted to be a more selfish point of view when asked for his thoughts on the number of games being called off and whether a break would be something he supported.

He did however state that the entire country would have to go into lockdown for it to be a worthwhile exercise.

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"My personal opinion would no, because I love what I do and I want to keep doing it - that's purely selfish reasons but then the other one would be, it's still out and about there,” he said ahead of his side’s match against Fulham on Monday night.

“Last time was different because everything was in lockdown, so that did limit the risk of transmissions in your club.

"For example if we shut down for a couple of weeks we may bring in more cases from out there. I get it but it would have to be part of a wider thing for that to work, it would have to be a nationwide thing, changing from Plan B to Plan C or whatever Boris Johnson made us go to. Until those things change, I wouldn't see the point in it.”

A number of percautionary measures have been taken at United to thwart the spread of the virus.

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“At the minute our stance is making as many adaptations as we can to limit the possibilities of making close contact,” added Heckingbottom. “Everyone's shopping, everyone's going home to families.. it's there and it's going to be here forever now. It's all about getting a way of working that we're comfortable with that's going to give us the best chance to get on with our jobs.”