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Kenny Dalglish: I cannot see a problem with neutral venues

Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish supports the idea of playing out the rest of the Premier League sea...
Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

15.39 14 May 2020


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Kenny Dalglish: I cannot see a...

Kenny Dalglish: I cannot see a problem with neutral venues

Richie McCormack
Richie McCormack

15.39 14 May 2020


Share this article


Liverpool icon Kenny Dalglish supports the idea of playing out the rest of the Premier League season at neutral venues. 

The 69-year old has only recently recovered from coronavirus.

More than half of the Premier League's clubs are now thought to be against playing at neutral venues.

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The proposal had been a key element to the league's 'Project Restart' document.

There is a fear that fans may congregate outside closed stadiums on matchdays, increasing the risk of COVID-19 infection.

"They cannot say to the clubs 'if there's fans turning up at the ground in a behind-closed-doors game, you're going to punished' because opposition fans will turn up", Dalglish told Sky Sports.

The two-time Liverpool manager added, "If that means the whole team is going to be punished? They need to be careful with that. The only accountable way to do it is to finish the season as best they can.

"I thought a neutral ground would have been a good idea because they could have been away for three weeks and finished it off there in three or four grounds.

"If it was a Premier League ground you used then some team may have had an advantage but I cannot see a problem with neutral venues."

Club captains and managers were briefed on a potential return to play by the UK's deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van Tam on Wednesday.

But Dalglish believes there is still a lot of road to be travelled before players will acquiesce to a return, "I think they have a bit of convincing to do to prove to the players they aren't going to suffer or have a greater risk of suffering if you go back to play the games.

"They will be tested two or three times a week to see if they have picked anything up and as long as they look after the players properly and do their best, because they cannot guarantee anything.

"But then if you go on a football pitch to train, there is no guarantee you come off that pitch without an injury. So I would have thought that they are well looked after now and that they are really healthy.

"It is their choice, they have to do what they feel comfortable with and at the same time, football clubs have got to do their best to try and finish the league if they possibly can.

"But the health and safety needs to come first and they need to be careful what rules and regulations they put in."


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