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'Fanciful and unfair on players's families' | Daryl Horgan on the return of football

Republic of Ireland and Hibernian's Daryl Horgan believes the projected return to football in Sco...



Soccer

'Fanciful and unfair on players's families' | Daryl Horgan on the return of football


Republic of Ireland and Hibernian's Daryl Horgan believes the projected return to football in Scotland is "fanciful" and resents the idea of affecting his family if the sport comes back.

Scotland has had its fair share of controversy and backbiting when parsing exactly what a return to play would look like, with Rangers in particular taking umbrage with SPFL administrators.

That is a concern shared by Horgan.

"Is it going to be 90 minutes a week? How do you train and be half-apart all day every day?

"It seems fanciful, to be honest - you can't train properly. You might as well run on the road if you have to be two metres apart.

"It seems unlikely that you would be able to do all that consistently for that length of time. If you are going to train, you want to be training properly.

"Are they going to try and cram all the games in? So if a player has it, gets tested and comes back negative, plays a game - that is 22 players that might have it.

"It just seems that the risk outweighs the reward, in this scenario."

Horgan is clearly saying this with a heavy heart.

"I would love to get back playing, I really would. I am missing it, big time. If it was right and we could go back then fantastic, but the safety of people is more important.

"As well as that, are clubs going to be able to do that without people coming through the doors?"

Daryl Horgan

Horgan also believes that players are being treated unfairly in the pursuit of a return, particularly regarding family issues.

"Even the Premier League is saying that players may be kept away from their families - is that really fair? To keep a player away from his family for three or four weeks?

"It might be very lonely for them. It is a tough, tough time for everybody.

"For me, I have two kids and my missus here - they have no one else in Scotland. If I was to go away then it would be very difficult for her and for the two of them.

"You have to think of that as well. It is not exactly fair on them to say that people want football, so we're shipping off these people for three weeks."

It is an issue that looks to have no resolution any time soon.

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