Covid-19's impact on football: It could take 10 years to get where we were

We should see the reversal of a power balance that has swung the wrong way for too long, switching it back in favour of the clubs. Mass gatherings look like the very last port of call but I think a positive knock-on effect will ultimately be that fans and players are brought closer together, and the atmosphere in most stadiums could improve. Paul Lambert, Ipswich Town Being cynical, I think you have to say a lot of clubs will see this as a decent opportunity to reboot. People compare this to 2008 but the difference feels like the scale by which club owners have seen their own businesses decimated. If you look at the last five to 10 years, there has been an incredible rise in the scale of Premier Leaguewages, which affects clubs like ours who then drop down a level. Joel Byrom, Stevenage I believe the early days of our return may see change, whether that is the attendance in the stadium or how we travel to matches. Tosin Adarabioyo, Manchester City (on loan at Blackburn) The scout One of my managers used to tell me, ‘Scout creatively’, and that will be a buzz phrase for the foreseeable future. As a result, and with the lack of money going round, I think clubs will be particularly cautious when considering big signings in the short or medium term. The likes of Sheffield United and Burnley, who do not employ vast numbers of scouts but have sophisticated operations and always recruit well, look well equipped to handle what is coming. Top players and their agents will still command big money and it won’t affect super-wealthy owners as much but there will be changes until the economy recovers. For players coming through the ranks, even at Premier League level, there are likely to be lower salaries and more incentivised contracts. If there are more incentivised contracts and less money guaranteed then clubs will have to be more open in terms of their budgets and commercial income. But this could be a reset for football with young, hungry talent coming through.Owners still want to win, ultimately, and after two or three years of taking stock they will dig deep again. Neil Sang The director of football When it comes to recruitment you have to work with a very wide range of scenarios. At FC Midtjylland we have introduced a drive-in football concept where people will be watching the games on big screens from their carsoutside the stadium. Rasmus Ankersen, Brentford director of football and FC Midtjylland chairman The sponsor The primary change we’ll see is a reduction in transfer fees. I can see the gap between ‘big’ clubs and smaller sides widening as the more powerful teams recover more easily. Joe Briggs, Creative Lead at Football Index, Nottingham Forest’s shirt sponsor

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