Chris Wilder anticipates that we are just seeing the beginnings of coronavirus having an increasingly disruptive effect on the Premier League season after seeing his own club hit by positive tests. Reports have suggested that top-flight club chiefs have been discussing the possibility of calling for a two-week pause on the season, despite the Premier League being reluctant to embrace that idea. And Wilder believes that as it stands his will not be the only club to be effected after several of his staff and players tested positive for the virus in the build-up to his side’s 1-0 defeat away to Burnley on Tuesday evening.
Chris Wilder said “Yeah, it will do, yeah, but I think it’s going to effect quite a lot of teams. I think this is the start of something, I don’t think we’re going to be the first team to be hit by it. Five or six of the backroom staff have been hit by it and obviously some players as well. It’s a little bit different to last year – a perfect storm last year, a lot of big moments went for us and we were clear of injuries. It seems to be the opposite this year but we have to crack on, dust ourselves down and go again. There’s no excuses. They weren’t available and we had enough out there to get a result and unfortunately we didn’t. There was a number of players. One had to go for a test for this morning as well because he had some kind of an illness as well and had to be tested but fortunately the test came back negative. All the numbers are saying so aren’t they? I know the Premier League will do their best and we’ll do our best as a football club to keep going. Nobody’s looking for an exit, nobody’s looking for the season to be canned. That’s quite an easy one to chuck at us now that we might be but we’re not. We’re in that position because we’ve not done enough from a football point of view. But all the numbers suggest it’s either at its peak or it’s getting worse. I think that it will get effected and we’ll be effected – I know it’s taken its toll on the EFL. But I know the Premier League are doing their best and we are as a football club and the individual clubs in the Premier League are doing their best now with testing twice a week to get ourselves out there playing.”
