The Premier League will not resume the season until there has been a substantial reduction in the number of new cases of coronavirus because lives are at danger, said Newcastle United defender Danny Rose on Monday.
Premier League clubs were in negotiations to finish the season, which has nine remaining games, and the prospect of restarting next month was given a boost when the government announced that professional sport could return after June 1.
The ‘Dream Reset’ of the Premier League has looked for a return to action in the coming weeks, but during the Instagram Live show, Rose treated the talks with a mixture of anger and disdain. Rose, speaking on Lock’ Don Live, said: “Government is saying ‘bring back football’ because this will raise the morale of the country.”
“The government’s saying ‘bring back football because it will raise the morale of the nation’,” Rose, 29, said on a live Instagram video, adding that he did not care more about the morale of the country than about his wellbeing.
“The lives of people are in jeopardy. You shouldn’t even think about football until the numbers have fallen significantly. I listened to yesterday’s announcement, no football until June 1 or something, I don’t even pay attention to any of that.”
He posted a video on Twitter and captioned it as:
“I don’t give a f* about the nation’s morale, bro, people’s lives are at risk. Football shouldn’t even speak about coming back until the numbers (infected or dying) have dropped massively. It’s b****s. We’ll see.”
Rose, who played on loan for Newcastle until the pandemic caused the sporting break, added: “I’m expected to go back, I think I get checked on Friday so we’ll just have to wait and see.”
Britain reported more than 223,000 cases and more than 32,000 coronavirus deaths – the highest number in Europe.
