Liverpool defender Robertson says Premier League return will give country a ‘big lift’

Liverpool defender Robertson says Premier League return will give country a ‘big lift’

The Scotland defender has insisted the Reds squad is no longer “nervous” about the season restarting despite the continued threat of coronavirus
Liverpool left-back Andrew Robertson has expressed his belief that the impending return of the Premier League will give the country a “big lift”.

Top-flight football in England came grinding to a halt in March amid the coronavirus outbreak, which has caused more than 370,000 deaths worldwide to date.

Football clubs across the country were forced to shut down due to new social distancing protocols set out by the government.

Fast forward three months, and there finally appears to be light at the end of the tunnel, as lockdown measures begin to ease following a significant fall in the number of Covid-19 cases in Great Britain.

Top-level sport has been cleared to resume from June 1 onwards, and Premier League officials have set a provisional date of June 17 for the 2019-20 campaign to get back underway.

Some players have voiced safety concerns since the announcement of ‘Project Restart’, including Tottenham’s Danny Rose and Manchester City star Raheem Sterling – both of whom have insisted football must come second to public health.

Robertson understands why there have been reservations over getting back on the pitch, but says his fears have been allayed by the Premier League’s thorough approach regarding testing and matchday planning.

“All the Premier League protocols that they’ve set out, the club has to adhere to them,” the Liverpool ace told Sky Sports.

“They’ve been second to none – the staff in here have been a different class and they’ve made it a safe environment for us to come and train.

“For me when people’s normal jobs start going back to normal and people are getting told to get back to work, for us, I don’t think there’s a safer place we can be.

“We are following everything, the doctors are staying on top of everything.
“Look I can understand people being a bit nervous. People in our squad were nervous about it at the start. I don’t think they are now.

“They see how safe we are being and no stone is left unturned. That’s what we’ve got to do but different players from different clubs have different views on it.

That’s something the Premier League are working on, to get everything spot on and to keep everyone happy.

“We’ve done really well so far, everyone keeping to the rooms and doing everything that we need to do.

“Then we can hopefully get football back on the telly as I think it can give people around this country a big lift.”