‘I’ll tell you right now’ – Ally McCoist reacts as Championship rivals oppose Leeds restart
talkSPORT pundit Ally McCoist has delivered support for the restart of the Championship – and the Leeds United bid for promotion – and said, “sacrifices will have to be made”.
McCoist was reacting after QPR said they were “appalled” when the EFL announced the Championship would restart on June 20.
They claimed the EFL hadn’t consulted them and that the kick-off date would lead to many injuries, with less than three weeks of contact training for players.
QPR’s director of football Les Ferdinand went one step further and said that the return date could be worse for the players than Coronavirus.
Hmmm.
Talking on the Breakfast show on talkSPORT (Tuesday, 8am), McCoist said he had sympathy for QPR’s position but ultimately came out on the side of Leeds, who are desperate to get back on the pitch.
“I tell you right now,” McCoist said, “I’ve said for weeks how difficult it’s going to be for the players. All I’m saying is they will run the risk of injuries.
“Every pre-season I did as a player, coach, manager… In the ideal world you have six weeks. As a player, you had five or six games before you started the season.
“I know it’s not the perfect scenario but I get totally where QPR are coming from. From the player’s point of view, we’re dealing with finely tuned athletes preparing to play against each other. They’re only going to have two weeks to go into the Championship and we know how demanding that league is.
“It’s very difficult to disagree with QPR here but we want the season to continue and ultimately sacrifices will have to be made.”
The Bundesliga has shown the way to the rest of the football world. They’ve just got on with it.
There have been an increased number of injuries in the German top-flight – 14 in the first weekend alone.
However, while we have sympathy for players and managers who are worried, we can’t buy into the strength of the QPR views.
They’re only talking about a week’s difference – they had told their players to expect to go back on June 27 – and the EFL has always maintained that they would be looking to kick games off again in June.
Saying it’s worst than Coronavirus is just absurd.
Should the EFL have communicated things better? Absolutely, but there’s only so much time for consultation and ahead of the statement on Sunday we’d called for quick and decisive decision making.
Players have been off since mid-March but they should still have been training.
What this will show more than anything is how professional players have been in lockdown and we have absolute confidence in Leeds.
In other Leeds United news, ‘Worse for them than Covid-19’ – Ferdinand makes stunning claim about Leeds restart