Jamaal Lascelles reveals his view on playing without Newcastle United fans

Lascelles and his team-mates started small-group training this week ahead of a proposed mid-June restart for the Premier League.

United’s on-loan defender Danny Rose has voiced his reservations about a summer restart for football, but Lascelles, the club’s captain, is happy to be back on the training pitches for the first time since mid-March, when football was suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Asked if he had always been keen on a restart, Lascelles said: “Yeah, completely – totally motivated to get back and finish off the last nine games and the FA Cup.

“I do think the phase one protocols at the training ground are as safe as anything. As long as that’s in place, and everyone’s testing negative, then I don’t have any issues.”

If the Premier League does restart, all games will be behind closed doors. It’s proposed that the FA Cup semi-finals and final will be played at an empty Wembley, something Lascelles, having led Newcastle to the quarter-finals, finds hard to imagine.

“I can’t emphasise enough how important the fans are in terms of getting behind the players,” said Lascelles.

“I couldn’t imagine what they would be like at a final – it would be amazing. I don’t know what it’ll be like without them

“It’ll take the gloss off. Every single game will. But the other team don’t have their fans either. They’ll be missed if they’re not there, but we have to make sure we win without them, for them.”

Premier League captains decided to donate money to NHS charities after health secretary Matt Hancock suggested they should “play their part” and take pay cuts during the shutdown.

“There are a lot of wealthy people in England, and footballers are some of them,” said Lascelles.

“I do think we have a role to play in helping vulnerable people, care workers and the NHS, and we’ve rightly done so.

“Some people say wage cuts and deferrals should go back to the clubs, but as club captains we got together and thought it would be beneficial to people who are struggling and really need it.”