Covid-19 is not going away any time soon, with or without a vaccine. Last season became very disjointed, and now it seems it might happen once again. Ipswich manager Paul Lambert is one of six people at the club to have tested positive for it, and this includes one player who reported symptoms after all the playing staff were tested on Friday morning.
This is very worrying. This new strain of the disease is spreading rapidly throughout London and the south-east. Coronavirus case rates for every district across Suffolk and north Essex have continued to rise. In some regions, more than doubling.
Town’s game against in-form Peterborough over the weekend was postponed after a Posh player tested positive for Covid-19 and three others showed obvious symptoms. Ipswich general manager Lee O’Neill explained on the club official website that Ipswich Town is doing everything possible in order to quell any further outbreaks. “We will be closing the training ground for now in line with guidelines until we have spoken in detail with the EFL about the way forward.”
The Blues are scheduled to play Northampton Town on Boxing Day at Portman Road, before travelling to AFC Wimbledon on December 29th. Given the current climate, both of these matches are now in serious doubt. This new Corona variant is being blamed for the government’s introduction of a much stricter tier 4, and now we hear that UK citizens are unable to travel throughout Europe, as borders have been closed by our EU neighbours.
These are unprecedented times, and although I am probably older than most of my readers, even I have not experienced anything quite like this! Not having supporters in stadiums is bad enough, but the way things are going, we might not even see a natural end to this season too. This vaccine cannot come quick enough but even when it gets here, there is no guarantee that it will be able to fight off this new virus mutation. It is, sadly, what it is.
I’ve posted on here my dissatisfaction with the owner and manager, generally the way the club is run…HOWEVER that is football, COVID is completely different and would never wish this on anyone. Hope they all recover asap and return to their loved ones.
Thanks, Mark and I share your sentiments. We may have different opinions on how Town is being run these days, but on the Covid pandemic, we are in complete agreement. It turns football into a bit of an irrelevance. I should have been travelling to Porto in Portugal with my wife today, but this dreaded Coronavirus has put paid to that. I hope that Christmas brings some solace to you and your family and to all the other readers here.