Southampton: Saints chief executive offers hope on season completion

Southampton chief executive Martin Semmens has offered some hope that the 2019/20 Premier League season may be completed.

All English football has been postponed due to the current Coronavirus pandemic which compromises the health of players, staff and fans involved in the game.

It remains unclear whether the rest of the campaign will be played to its conclusion, but Semmens has revealed that those involved in the Premier League remain hopeful.

Speaking to BBC Radio Solent’s Adam Blackmore, he said:

"“We hope to get the league done by the end of June and that would be easier for everybody.“As soon as you go past that date there are then those legal challenges and issues that we have to fulfil."

He also went on to talk about the issues that could arise with expiring contracts for players after June 30th, saying that he didn’t expect it to be a problem to get players signed up to short term deals to see the campaign out.

More from Saints Marching

• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 2: Arrivals
• Grading the Southampton Transfer Window Part 1: Departures
• It’s time to talk about Gavin Bazunu
• Rain clouds on the horizon? Southampton beat Plymouth Argyle
• A lament for Southampton legend James Ward-Prowse

Semmens was appointed as CEO at Saints back in June 2019 and has led with honesty so far whilst the club go through a transition period.

In a couple of fans forum events at St Mary’s, he has been there to answer questions from supporters thoroughly and seems to make more sense in what he is saying than previous club Chairman Ralph Krueger.

Whether the rest of the Premier League and its governors will be happy about Semmens speaking for the whole league here is unknown, but he actually hasn’t said anything outrageous at all.

It is obviously still a possibility that the season will be played out and the winners and losers in terms of promotion, relegation and league titles will be determined.

In many ways, it would be unfortunate to see the season voided when some teams have been so much better than others since the first games were played all the way back in August.

However, the situation with the Coronavirus in this country is so severe that people’s safety must be taken into account before any decision is made.

All high-profile football games require the presence of emergency services to deal with any incident that may occur with so many people in attendance, and most of these workers are of course battling hard to deal with the outbreak that the UK is experiencing.

Another solution could be to play matches behind closed doors but this – as seen in Germany and other countries – invites fans to congregate outside stadiums if they are not allowed inside.