Southampton: Potential restart date set for Saints and Prem Lge clubs

A potential restart date for Southampton and the other 19 Premier League clubs has been set as 8th June.

According to Sky Sports, a meeting between all 20 clubs on Friday determined that games could resume in around seven weeks time, but that this depends on a number of factors.

Whether football can resume at all will have to be confirmed by the government with the easing of social distancing and lockdown measures in the UK.

If the Premier League is given the green light, the campaign would most likely be played out across June, July and August.

In all, there are still 92 top-flight matches that are still to played to ensure that the 2019/20 season is completed.

Saints still have nine games left and currently sit in 14th place in the league table.

Four of their remaining fixtures are home games, with Arsenal, Manchester City, Sheffield United and Brighton still to make the trip to St Mary’s.

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Five away meetings with Norwich, Watford, Everton, Manchester United and Bournemouth are also still left.

Nine games over the course of a three month period is likely to mean that Saints would be faced with the normal on match per week.

Safety of everyone involved is paramount at the moment and in any decision that the Premier League makes, but finishing the season would be in favour of all 20 clubs financially.

A recent report stated that Saints would lose £32.1m if the 2019/20 season was voided – mainly because of Sky and BT potentially withdrawing funds if they don’t get to show the coverage that they have paid for.

However, this also includes commercial and matchday income which could still be lost if games are played behind closed doors but wouldn’t prove such an issue.

Pushing the season on so that it ends in August may also affect the summer transfer window.

Saints are in the middle of a rebuilding process under Ralph Hasenhuttl and will want as much time to pursue new players as possible, whilst they will also be looking to get their manager and key players tied down to longer-term contracts.