Football must learn to take a back seat: Richard Buxton

Gary Neville has never been one to shirk away from footballing matters of the heart.

"Attack the day" remains the motto by which the ex-Manchester United defender turned TV pundit abides by.

As both a decorated player and maligned manager, he operated at full throttle.

But the 45-year-old's blueprint for a successful restart of the game, after the coronavirus pandemic is finally contained, is already surpassing those previous personal extremes.

As part of a five-point plan, Neville argued that the current English Premier League season should be completed even if players face a "9-10 game hit in an extremely condensed period", essentially advocating the outstanding nine rounds of fixtures be played three times a week.

Not since his Valencia side were trounced 7-0 by Barcelona has Neville misjudged a situation so badly.

He failed to acknowledge football is no longer in a position to call the shots and that the continuing spread of Covid-19 across the world means its usual rules do not apply.

Tough decisions will need to be made in the weeks and months ahead.

Some have already fallen in line, with Lionel Messi, Pep Guardiola and Robert Lewandowski pledging a fraction of their vast financial resources to the ongoing efforts by frontline healthcare workers.

Others acted uniformly, with Juventus' players agreeing to take four-month pay cuts.

Their counterparts at Barcelona and Atletico Madrid did not have a say in the matter.

Such is the growth of the pandemic that the English top flight is also facing up to reality.

Clubs are on the verge of being told to down tools for an indefinite hiatus.

Plans to resume matches from April 30 now appear delusional in the ever-changing situation.

Proposals to defer wages will temporarily level the financial playing field for its pampered protagonists. With the entire country in virtual lockdown, they can't spend them anyway.

Cutting its cloth accordingly in the long term will be the only way football manages to come out the other side of the coronavirus with its structure, integrity and respect all still intact.

Brighton & Hove Albion manager Graham Potter is under no illusions that it will not return as it once was and that adjustments will need to be made to what he described as an "imperfect situation".

Yet the obsession in some quarters to maintain the old order defies comprehension at a time when even Juergen Klopp is not occupied with Liverpool getting their hands on the EPL title.

More than most, the German has grounds to be aggrieved at the unfortunate timing of the pandemic coinciding with Anfield's end to a three decade-long wait for the championship.

Instead, Klopp defied Bill Shankly's teachings about football superseding life and death.

He was moved to tears watching medics singing You'll Never Walk Alone while on duty.

In these times of unprecedented crisis, The Kop finds itself taking a rare back seat to hospital wards.

Football, similarly, needs to take stock of its largely inconsequential place in the wider world.

Its importance is less than secondary while the threat of coronavirus remains. Immaterial subjects like scheduling and competitions can be solved once it is deemed safe to do so.

Adapting to this impending era of uncertainty is the course of action the game must accept, rather than attempting to push the envelope for a premature return to normality.