Gary Neville Warns Against Staging Games Behind Closed Doors

The Premier League has been suspended until the end of April due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

UEFA’s decision to postpone this summer’s European Championship to next year has given the various leagues around Europe ample time to complete their various campaigns.

The Coronavirus pandemic has however showed little signs of slowing down and it is still unclear whether the proposed resumption dates are still feasible.

It has been suggested that staging games behind closed doors will be the only way to complete the season but Neville does not think it will be the right thing to do.

"There are a lot of things to happen before we contemplate behind closed doors," Neville told BBC Radio 5Live.

"I said no on this about three or four weeks ago because I felt that it takes away from the essence of football.

"I also felt that EFL clubs and non-league clubs would suffer too much from the revenue loss and it would put them under.

"At the moment, the behind closed doors idea has got to come only after the health priority.

"Will fans turn up outside the stadium? Will fans congregate outside the stadium if their team can get promoted or get relegated, or if they can get into Europe?

"How are we going to stop that? How are the police going to man it? How are they health services going to react to incidents that happen off the back of it and do we need to put any more pressure on the services at this point in time?

"However, if those fears could be overcome somewhere down the line within this 12-week period then [behind closed doors games] could be the case."