Mark Catlin: Portsmouth are clear - but football clubs can never be immune from coronavirus

Yet the Blues chief executive is realistic enough to accept football is not immune from coronavirus.

As it stands, all of Pompey’s players are now back in training following the outbreak which saw five of them become infected with the pandemic.

The squad will also this week undergo mandatory testing, which had long been scheduled by the Football League.

In addition, the club’s Copnor Road training base was forensically cleaned during the recent lay-off.

But Catlin concedes the coronavirus threat can never be confidently combated.

He told The News: ‘As I speak to you now, we seem to be covid free.

‘We do have a round of mandatory testing this week that has to be undertaken, so I don’t want to really comment on things that I have no control over.

‘But at this moment in time, to my knowledge, we are covid free.

‘I have said from the start that football clubs are not immune from coronavirus. If you just look at the debate going on this morning about the return to school, for example.

‘We have put players in our bubble, but the reality is they go home and many of them have kids that go to school. How can we protect our players from that?

‘The government say it’s safe for children, which I have no doubt. However, it’s the transition – getting into an environment where it spreads. The kids come home and then it gets passed onto the parents.

‘Football is a contact sport. You can put in all the protections in the world, but you only have to look at corners, set-pieces and goal celebrations to see the close contact between players.

‘It’s just one of those things, especially given how prevalent this now appears to be in general society.

‘There is a round of testing this week for all clubs – and it will be interesting to see how the figures within football replicate those outside.’

Pompey’s coronavirus outbreak lost them two scheduled fixtures during the festive period.

The other cancellation was due to Accrington’s frozen pitch for their January 2 encounter.

But the Blues haven’t been the only ones affected by the pandemic – even Manchester City saw their clash at Everton postponed.

Catlin added: ‘The training ground is clean, we go through all the EFL protocols.

‘We don’t have any firm proof that it was passed at the training ground or a match environment. Players catch it individually, like the rest of society.

‘If you look at a club like Manchester City as an example, with all the resources at their disposal they still had an outbreak within the squad.

‘You can put in all the protocols in the world, but ultimately it is a contact sport.’

A message from the Editor, Mark Waldron

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