Leeds United and Coronavirus - expert details football's 'nightmare', EFL options, legal issues, contracts and policing

But life and sport, which plays such a huge part in the lives of so many, have to go on, if and when any sense of normality is restored and any play can actually take place.

So conversations about what happens next in the English game have to take place and, as a solicitor and an FA-registered intermediary, Dan Chapman, is privy to some of them.

He works for clubs, as well as players, and has already been engaged to explore some of the issues that will crop up in the game now that fixtures have been suspended and the season’s conclusion has been thrown into the air.

The EFL say the earliest they will resume action is April 3, but the peak of the virus in the UK is not expected for between 10 to 14 weeks, making an extension seem like a necessity, if 2019/20 fixtures are to be completed. That eventuality would give rise to some complications.

“I’ve been looking at this for the past couple of days, I work for clubs and obviously I work for players on that side of it too,” said Chapman.

“The main problem is player contracts, it would depend on how long an extension would be. Player contracts end on June 30 but some finish in May. The lower down the leagues you go there’s more in May.

“Because of the rules on contracts, emergency rules would need to be passed so you could extend the season. That’s a real complicating factor.

“You also have a question mark, if you have a player, particularly fringe players who turn around and say ‘I’ve booked my honeymoon or my holiday after the season and I’m not hanging about’ and things of that nature.”

There are also the European Championships to consider, when discussing any potential extension to the season.

And how games would be policed or how clubs’ and leagues’ sponsorship deals would be affected.

“There could be policing issues, a lot of police forces allocate their resources based on the fixture list,” said Chapman.

“There might be a little bit of wiggle room but going into the summer, whether or not policing would be an issue might depend on how bad Coronavirus gets, they might say it’s not a good use of their time and resources.

“So many issues – sponsors, there are some very complicated legal issues surrounding that.

“It’s a nightmare.

“The Euros. That also has an impact on an any extension.”

The complications lead Chapman to wonder whether or not the decision-makers might just call it quits for the current campaign.

But he accepts that in itself will bring different headaches. Do Leeds United go up, based on their position as current Championship leaders?

“Will sides be relegated without getting the chance to play their way out of trouble?

“Part of me thinks there’s a real chance they might draw stumps on the season, but that leads to myriad issues and litigation,” he said.

“If they handed out promotions and relegations based on the tables as they are, that would be interesting.

“From a sporting integrity point of view it’s a complete nightmare and completely unprecedented. No one has ever thought this could happen.

“If we’ve missed a fortnight or so through weather, you can catch up on fixtures and if they’re back playing by April there will be a horrible fixture squeeze but they could catch up.

“If it drags on longer than that it’s hard to see how they would be able to catch up.”

He believes the game’s authorities would be able to declare champions, despite fixture lists not being complete. He said: “It’s within the rules of the competitions, they have quite wide powers to manage the competitions as they see fit.

“I saw a comment online from someone yesterday that there’s no way the Premier League could say Liverpool are champions, well, I think they can.

“There’s been no sporting advantage or disadvantage to date.

“What’s the alternative?

“To scrap an entire season and pretend it didn’t happen? Is that a greater prejudice than handing out trophies now? In motorsport, if a race gets abandoned, if enough of the race has taken place to make positions final, they can declare it, if the rules and conditions have been satisfied.

“There will be lots of litigation and arguments but I see it as a realistic position.”

It might be safer, Chapman suggests, to try and complete the season whenever possible, although he accepts there will be ‘no case at all’ to lift the suspension if Coronavirus cases are still on the rise by April 3.

“If I was a betting man, if Coronavirus hasn’t mitigated by April 3, that might be where we end the season,” he said.

“The safest route is to try and extend the season.

“Not every team has played the same amount of games, there might be a club who can say if we played one more we could have got out of relegation had they not scrapped the season.

“There is another possibility, to have a summer break and come back in August and finish the season, then have a short break and get the next season started, squeeze the games in.

“The problem with that would be player contracts and they would be put in bizarre positions, some of them quite strong but others more vulnerable.

“A player who wasn’t going to be with a club scoring a goal against another club might lead them to have a case.

“The transfer window would be such a complicated window. Some people criticise football, saying they are a bit late to get to this point, but I understand why. Everyone was desperate to not cancel, for all these reasons we’ve discussed.

“Football is also at odds with the government advice as well.

“The government position seems a little bit different to the sporting position.”

While much of the debate is based around unpredictable future events and how exactly this country copes with a pandemic, the absence of fixtures will very quickly bite lower league clubs.

Chapman is aware of a club, operating below the Championship, who ‘raid the piggy bank’ each month to pay players, a club kept afloat by gate receipts and beer and pie sales. Without financial aid, the footballing landscape could look quite different once games finally resume.

“They have already had conversations to ask what financial support they will get because, with four postponed games in the next month and no gates, they can’t pay the wages,” he said.

“That’s a real issue.

“Are there going to provide support or will it force a few clubs under?

“There are a few close to becoming the next Bury.

“A number of football clubs are looking at their business interruption insurance and if there is cover for this. Most insurance policies were never crafted with Coronavirus in mind. If you’re a club that can’t play games because of Coronavirus, that’s an act of business interruption. Different insurers will have different attitudes, some clubs think they won’t be covered, some think they will be.

“Every sport is affected.

“There will be some interesting conversations.”