What football chief said about prospect of Sheffield United's FA Cup quarter-final with Arsenal being sacrificed in wake of coronavirus crisis

Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham has moved to allay fears that the FA Cup could be sacrificed as attempts are made to have the season completed following its suspension due to the coronavirus crisis.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

Football was brought to a halt on Friday due to the increased threat of the virus spreading and while a date of April 3 was set for a potential return to action, it remains unclear and indeed unlikely matches will be played that weekend.

As plans are being discussed in a bid to have the season completed as quickly as possible, there were concerns that the FA Cup would be kicked into touch to ease the fixture backlog.

Read More
How Sheffield United managed to mix it with the big boys of the Premier League
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Sheffield United made it through to the quarter-finals and were due to play Arsenal this Sunday before the postponement.

Asked whether the FA Cup could be scrapped to help get the season completed, Bullingham told PA Sport: “Within the context of that, clearly from our point of view, the FA Cup is incredibly important.

“We are talking the priority being that, whenever football can be played again, to complete the domestic season, we are talking about both the league and the FA Cup.”

Bullingham admits going beyond June 30 - the point at which player contracts expire and which marks the official end of one season and the start of another - could present problems but says "nothing is off the table" in terms of a finish date.

Sheffield United have made it into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Simon Bellis/SportimageSheffield United have made it into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Simon Bellis/Sportimage
Sheffield United have made it into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup. Simon Bellis/Sportimage
Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“Clearly, things get much more complicated after June 30 but I would say nothing is off the table right now in the discussions being talked about both internationally and domestic level,” he said.

“No one knows exactly what is going to happen and we have got many different scenarios which I won’t go into in detail but clearly moving the tournament in the summer does potentially create more space for the domestic season to finish, which is everyone’s priority.”