Neil Humphreys: Euro 2020 had to be postponed
Uefa must allow domestic leagues to finish campaigns first
Across a scared, disjointed continent, at least one decision unites just about everyone in football.
Euro 2020 is done. The year can no longer be home to such a trivial event.
Only a self-serving charlatan would suggest otherwise, but we'll get back to West Ham United's vice-chairman Karren Brady.
In the meantime, Uefa took the only viable option. The Euros are postponed to 2021, but the specifics are truly unimportant right now.
If Uefa's powerbrokers needed further justification, all they had to do was step outside. Their headquarters are based in Switzerland, which provides a stark reminder of what is at stake.
Life itself.
The Swiss government has declared a state of emergency, closing all shops, bars, restaurants and entertainment facilities. Euro 2020 encompasses the lot.
The tournament never stood a chance and not just for health and safety reasons either. Postponing Euro 2020 was arguably the only option that pulled together so many competing football agendas.
Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher wants the domestic campaign to be completed, for obvious reasons. Salford City co-owner Gary Neville doesn't want games played behind closed doors, for obvious reasons.
Lionel Messi wants everyone to be responsible. Diego Simeone wants us to stay at home. And my sick stepfather hopes his immune deficiency spares him Covid-19, so he can see Frank Lampard's kids qualify for Europe.
Every want and desire is different. That's what makes the game so gut-wrenchingly glorious.
But a European Championship postponement offers that most rare and beautiful thing in the current climate: a decision that satisfies everyone.
With the tournament moved, European leagues are granted breathing space to complete stalled campaigns, ideally by June 30.
PLAYERS' CONTRACTS
That's the circled date as players' contracts usually expire on June 30. There are 69 footballers in the English Premier League alone who, theoretically, could not turn out for their respective clubs beyond that date.
An additional six or seven weeks raises the possibility of smaller clubs like Neville's Salford recouping lost revenues, as well as promoting and relegating the right teams, on merit, which brings us back to Brady.
At the weekend, the West Ham vice-chairman sounded more like an unscrupulous disaster capitalist, seeking to profit from the suffering of others, by insisting that this season should be declared null and void.
Naturally, her thinking had nothing to do with the fact that the relegation-threatened Hammers would benefit enormously from the status quo being preserved for another season.
But the same could not be said for Liverpool. One of the greatest campaigns in domestic history does not warrant an eternal "what if".
Of course, moving the Euros to June 2021 isn't without complications. World Cup qualifiers and the women's Euros are pencilled in for the same period.
But there must be the will because there really is no other way.
Further perspective shouldn't be required at this point, but Peter Lim's Valencia provided it any way. The La Liga club announced that "around 35 per cent" of their staff had tested positive for Covid-19.
When it comes to the possibility of football tournaments potentially overlapping in June 2021, it's a struggle to contain one's indifference.
As we scrub away layers of epidermis on our hands and keep elderly loved ones out of harm's way, we're unlikely to lose sleep over a few World Cup qualifiers being bumped off the calendar.
The European Championship can afford to wait.
The European summer should give this football season a chance to finish what it started. Yes, it's trivial. But it's also a little closure, something to look forward to. And we all need that at the moment.
Because if the season cannot be completed by June 30, then Euro 2020 is going to be the very least of our worries.
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