Amid the coronavirus uncertainty one thing remains clear for Portsmouth and English football

The key players in English football look at each other and produce a collective shrug of the shrug of the shoulders as they scramble around for the answers they don’t have.

Perhaps they’ve taken their lead from a government reticent to take decisive action at a time when the World Health Organisation’s executive director has delivered a warning ‘speed trumps perfection’ in combatting such a deadly foe.

Thankfully, at local level, we’re seeing the kind of clarity, leadership and direct conduct from Pompey which stands out all the more amid its absence among the nation’s key decision makers.

Chief executive Mark Catlin has made himself available to be contacted and spoken freely to deal with the questions supporters want answered.

Whether that’s the minutiae of ticket information or dealing with the very real fears of fans, staff and players over facing what is feared will be the biggest threat to life since the Second World War, he hasn’t wavered.

Information from Pompey’s executive staff has been cascaded down effectively and the minute-by-minute questions answered from a narrative which is developing at a pace and veering in so many different directions.

Meanwhile, the EFL issue a statement effectively asking us all to leave them alone.

That was the take-home sentiment from their release yesterday lunchtime which spent more time talking about it being ‘simply not practical to give a running commentary’ than anything else.

Of course, the league find themselves in an invidious place where the questions far outweigh the answers.

Amid the Covid-19 uncertainty one thing remains clear, however: the season needs to be seen to a conclusion.

That’s a statement which comes with the caveat the safety of everyone involved with sport ultimately has to come first. Controlling the global pandemic and minimising the threat to life is the ultimate aim for us all right now.

But there is the belief that desire can be balanced with maintaining the integrity of our league competitions and seeing them through to a reasonable conclusion.

To think of what we would’ve missed if the campaigns of yesteryear had been rendered null and void.

No party at Wigan at the completion of the Great Escape in 2006. No final-day Fratton drama three years ago and League Two title after being top for 32 minutes all season.

Forget Manchester United and Wembley in 2008. Likewise, Harry Redknapp’s Spurs being put in their place and the final two years later, creating a kaleidoscope of beautiful FA Cup memories.

True, we would have saved ourselves a fair amount of pain along the way, too, but to call time on the season without putting up a fight would be to deny football fans of special moments they will hold dear for the rest of their lives.

Of course, away from the emotive side of the subject there’s the cold-hard economic realities of the season not being seen to fruition.

The Premier League’s £3bn-a-year TV deal not being fulfilled will pave the way for penalty clauses which run into the hundreds of millions being needed to be paid.

Likewise, taking extreme decisions over promotion and relegation in the face of an uncompleted season, and the associated huge financial ramifications, will pave the way for an unrelenting ream of lawsuits coming the way of football’s authorities.

Tomorrow’s Uefa video conference among football’s key stakeholders is likely to be the first significant step towards finding the answers needed, with a postponement of the European Championships for 12 months the obvious move towards doing so.

Then comes the logistical process of how best to finish English football’s elite leagues.

A season completed across the summer? A campaign spilling over into the next one? Will next term’s domestic cup competitions have to be sacrificed? How will that work with sponsors? Oh, and don’t forget the players’ contracts are up on June 31.

These are the kind of questions football must now deal with, with the machinations of that process more complex than most of us could ever consider. Sacrifices will need to be made.

With an initial suspension which could yet become indeterminate still in place, the game’s decision makers face a mighty battle to begin to see a path forward - but with the right leadership not an impossible one.