If, as is hoped for, the Government eases some of the coronavirus lockdown restrictions next month what will the return to football eventually look like?

The reality is that despite the best intentions of the authorities it will be extremely difficult to play any games. And once a player displays coronavirus symptoms he will have to self-isolate for 14 days. What, then, will the impact of that be on squads, on the players’ motivation to play, their mental health, and on the integrity of the competition?

So here is what might happen in the best-case scenario and – even then – how tough it will be to complete the season this summer, as apparently has to happen, with the Premier League determined the next campaign cannot start any later than September otherwise it, too, will be damaged.

The Premier League are looking to May 7, when the restrictions will be reviewed, to see whether players can begin training again around Monday May 18 with the view to giving clubs up to three weeks to get their squads ready for a June 8 kick-off for matches. This is all highly theoretical, of course, but even training will not be normal training in what appears to be an attempt to create some kind of ‘bio-secure’ bubble that might simply not be realistic. For some time at least.