Social distancing rules will be challenged by football fans as Premier League restarts

28 May 2020, 20:34 | Updated: 28 May 2020, 20:41

The bottom of the Premier League table is where the drama will be when football returns in mid-June.

Football manager and pundit Harry Redknapp joined Shelagh Fogarty as the Premier League announced plans to restart the league on June 17th. He was clearly chuffed with the news, telling Shelagh that "if all the right precautions are taken then it should be good news" for fans and clubs alike as games will be set to be televised.

Shelagh was quick to point out to the English football guru that "there's been non contact training so far" and wanted to know if this would pose an issue.

A worried Mr Redknapp stated that "it's not an awful lot of time to prepare" for the players, who have only gone back to training a couple of weeks ago, with no contact on the training field. The former manager told Shelagh that "modern footballers are in great shape" and the quick turnaround shouldn't as big an issue as he thinks.

"Eventually they'll have to start tackling, marking at set plays" Mr Redknapp said, adding that these technicalities don't take away from his delight at seeing the football season being finished. He tipped Liverpool to bring home the title but insisted that this isn't where his interest will be. "It's gonna be difficult for the teams at the bottom" Mr Redknapp predicted.

Mr Redknapp pointed out to listeners that "home advantage isn't the same without the crowd there" and with the race out of the bottom three ever so close, he sees excitement on the horizon for fans. "It'll be interesting to see who handles the new situation the best" he said.

Broadcasting from Liverpool, Shelagh was sure to voice that there could be issues if Liverpool were to win the title, wondering how streets will be policed to ensure people don't come out on the streets to celebrate.

Mr Redknapp pointed out that this will prove a touchy subject as the season comes to a close. He told Shelagh that he "walked up the beach earlier, it is jammed solid" and hinted that this is a window into how the public will behave when football returns.

"We've got to be careful, people will want to come out and celebrate Liverpool winning the league but I don't know how you can stop that" he said.

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