Luton chief confident season can be finished in 56 days

Finishing the season in just 56 days is definitely a realistic option in the eyes of Town chief executive Gary Sweet.

A letter sent to all 71 Football League clubs recently by EFL chairman Rick Parry, laid out plans to restart the campaign in June and conclude in August.

When asked if he was in favour of such a timescale, Sweet said: “I was actually quite shocked when people started to criticise that as being quite a short time.

“Of course the season can be finished in 56 days. We’ve got nine games that can be done in five weeks, that’s 35 and then you’ve got play-offs.

“Play-offs can be done easily in 14 days, so it can be done, if we want to.

“From calendar point of view, it can certainly be done, and I think it presents an opportunity whereby we could use broadcasting to try and get some income, but that's going to be nothing comparison.

"It's not the timescale so much, it’s how we do it, how do we ensure that players and all staff involved are tested so there's no risk.

"And if we're going to test people, we have to make sure that there are the requisite number of testing facilities and kits available that don't impact the resources for more emergency need.

"So there’s a whole range of moral dilemmas that we now as chief executive of mere football clubs now have to be intelligent about in order to support one way or another."

Should the plans go ahead, there is every chance Town will finish the campaign playing matches in empty stadiums to avoid any chances of the virus spreading.

On the prospect of that happening, Sweet added: “One of the things we are thinking of is how that could happen and I feel it would be an incredibly sad day if we ever had to play a game behind closed doors.

“Football for us, for me, is a spectator sport, it’s a live spectator sport.

"We are one of those clubs that, despite the minority value of live football supporters versus broadcast value that we get these days, we will always put live football supporters ahead of broadcasting companies, when it comes to our loyalty or our love and adoration.

"Whatever you want to say, is that we do believe that football should always be a live sport.

"So it will be an incredibly sad day if we ever have to play behind closed doors, but it is also more important that we do try to complete this season.

“You can't buy a burger and a pint and an executive hospitality package, those elements that do give us a significant amount of profit on a match day are going to be gone.

"Try as we might recover some of that, it's not going to touch the surface.”

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