Scunthorpe United FC

This is a time of the footballing year I never really look forward to – the time when players are released from the club.

Every year there are debates among fans as to whether certain players should be going, or whether others who were kept really ought to have gone. This time it seems even more brutal. We now know that all those 11 first team players out of contract won’t be with us (unless circumstances relating to COVID-19 change) next season, whenever that is; there is no opportunity to say goodbye and good luck. Some have been with the Iron for a short time, others longer; some have played many games, some few. We will all hope that x or y or z had been kept. At the end of June, all eleven will have no job, unless they have new clubs lined up, but which clubs will be hiring in these uncertain times? We thank them most sincerely for their time at Scunthorpe United and wish them well in the future.

So the debate still rages about when, or if, this extended season will continue. My personal view, and it is just that and not club policy, is that there will be no more games in the 2019-2020 season in Leagues One and Two; I’m not so sure that the Premier League and the Championship will be played either. That will mean the game we have a love-hate relationship with will be in rather a mess, with accusations and recriminations about promotion and relegation. My hope is that in all the discussions, those in charge at the top remember that they are dealing with people’s lives, quite literally – the lives of people who might become infected as a result of football restarting and the lives of those highly trained athletes who actually play the game.