Not playing at Vicarage Road has no semblance of any sporting integrity, claims Scott Duxbury
Watford have followed fellow relegation threatened side Brighton and Hove Albionās footstep and rejected the use of neutral venues after Hornets chairman Scott Duxbury released a statement. The Seagulls have confirmed that they are unhappy with the use of neutral grounds and have opposed the option.
The Premier Leagueās āProject Restartā has had itās fair share of criticism but while there are concerns over a premature restart, the main concern is over neutral grounds. It has seen Brighton and their chairman PaulĀ Barber wholeheartedly reject playing at neutral grounds with Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta questioning the sporting integrity of playing at neutral grounds. But, the Gunners boss and Manchester United boss Ole Gunnar Solskjaer has admitted that they will play if needed.
The same goes for Karren Brady, West Hamās vice-chairman, although she did admit that there are concerns over sporting integrity. However, with the Seagulls as the only opposing voice to the option, Watford have now joined the group and the Hornets have rejected the proposal. A vote to pass it will be held in May and 14 clubs must vote in favour for it to be confirmed but Scott Duxbury admitted that playing away from Vicarage Road is something the club wonāt do.
"I, of course, absolutely accept we cannot have supporters in the stadium. That goes without saying in the present situation. However, we are now told we cannot play our remaining home games at Vicarage Road and the familiarity and advantage that brings. This against a backdrop of players who, having seen their lives turned upside down along with the rest of the world, are suddenly expected to perform as if nothing has happened, despite the rest of society probably still facing the kind of restrictions unenforceable on a football pitch," Duxbury wrote in The Times.
"We have club medical staff working under conditions that no doctor or physio has ever experienced with guidelines that, in no small part, are based at this stage on supposition rather than scientific fact. And with all these compromises and health risks we are asked to finish a competition that bears no resemblance to the one we started, which could end a small club like Watford's time in the Premier League. So is this fair? Does it have any semblance of sporting integrity? Of course not."
Problems have arisen however, when League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan admitted that the Premier League season could be cancelled if clubs donāt agree to a neutral venue system. However, Duxbury further wrote that the Hornets can create a safe environment at Vicarage Road and he added that the long term future of clubs are in doubt under āchanged conditionsā.
"When at least six clubs ā and I suspect more ā are concerned about the clear downside and the devastating effects of playing in this kind of distorted nine-game mini-league, then I believe the Premier League has a duty of care to address those concerns.. If we start and finish a whole season under these conditions and at neutral venues when everybody knows the rules when we start, not created in a time of crisis, then that is clearly fair.
āTo be asked to finish a quarter of the season under new rules and conditions is an entirely different proposition. How can the long-term future of clubs be determined under these fundamentally changed conditions? How is there any semblance of fairness? To wave aside all the fears and concerns is too simplistic. Surely all 20 clubs must agree the fairest way forward to complete the season?ā he added.
