Why Middlesbrough boss Neil Warnock believes it would be a disaster is the season was suspended due to Covid-19 cases

Boro had an outbreak of the virus last week, meaning a number of their first-team players were unavailable for Saturday’s FA Cup match at Brentford.

Warnock also tested positive for the virus back in September and has constantly reminded people to be careful and follow Government guidelines.

Players and staff at EFL clubs are now being tested twice a week after seeing several fixtures postponed.

The EFL confirmed a further 11 positive tests on Wednesday, bringing the total to 123 for the latest week of results.

Yet, despite fans not being able to attend games, Warnock says football has given supporters something to look forward to.

“I do think the Government realised after that first lockdown that this was the only opportunity for people to have something to look forward to,” Warnock told TalkSport. “The mental side of the country must be almost bust, the pressure people are under.

“I’ve noticed massively up here how people are interested, our press guy Paul Dews is telling us about the number of people getting in touch and commenting on the football and things like that. That’s just Middlesbrough, let alone the top Premier League clubs.

“No disrespect to the North East but football is the majority of peoples’ pastime and it’s such a thing to be taken off the table, I think it would be disastrous at the moment.”

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