Gary Neville questions Premier League restart: 'How many people have to die before it becomes unpalatable?'

Former Manchester United and England defender Gary Neville has voiced safety concerns over plans for English football to resume amid the coronavirus crisis, insisting discussions are motivated by economics rather than health.

All football in the country has been suspended since mid-March due to the Covid-19 pandemic that has killed 26,000 people in the UK as of Wednesday, though plans to get the professional game back up and running have ramped up of late as part of a plan dubbed 'Project Restart'.

Several Premier League clubs have already partially reopened their training grounds to players for individual training sessions under strict social distancing guidelines in preparation for a potential June restart, though fears over the safety of players, officials and supporters - as well as the possibility of matches being staged at neutral venues - has led to a backlash.

Earlier this week, Fifa's chief medical officer Dr Michel D'Hooghe said that football should not resume until September, though Uefa counterpart Tim Meyer has since stated that it is "“definitely possible” to plan for seasons to return.

Premier League shareholders are due to discuss the plans at a meeting on Friday.

Discussing the issue on Sky Sports' Football Show on Wednesday, Neville said: "The FIFA medical officer said that football should not take place before September.

"I think if it was a non-economic decision there would be no football for months.

"People are now assessing risk. How many people have to die playing football in the Premier League before it becomes unpalatable? One? One player?

"One member of staff goes into intensive care? What risk do we have to take? The discussion is purely economic."

He added: "There will be people who will look at it as a risk factor, but if people are really serious about putting health first, we wouldn't be discussing football returning at this moment in time, but players themselves will want to go and play.

"Players at the lower levels will want to go and play because they'll recognise that the alternative is bad - 1,400 players are out of contract in three months so they'll need football to resume so their livelihoods can continue.

"You've got clubs who've got huge investments in this season, in respect to clubs at the top of divisions.

There are big prizes up for grabs and huge economic loss that's going to be incurred and it does cloud minds, in terms of the level of risk people are willing to place on lives in order for the return of football."

Neville - who has called for Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden to take part in an interview on Sky Sports - added that the idea of the season stretching into August or September would be "very difficult" due to players' contract situations, stating his belief that the Government was currently "testing the water" to see if it is "palatable" to the public for football to return.

Discussing what needs to happen before football returns, Neville said: "If there was an economic package put in place for football - and I will keep banging on about this loan - to protect the PL, EFL and players for a year, you will then get a sensible decision on health. Then it can be one step at a time.

"At the moment, we are still seeing economic reasons driving the outcome on whether football returns or not."