Premier League 2019/20 season cast into fresh doubt amid UEFA coronavirus deadline claims – and what could mean for Newcastle United

But with the coronavirus outbreak in the UK not set to peak until May/June, according to experts, the governing body ruling is set to cast England’s premier footballing competitions into fresh doubt.

There is a general acceptance that the April 4 return date for top flight action could well be premature, but in a special meeting of UEFA’s member states today the proposal to postpone Euro 2020 to 2021 is likely to be agreed, as well as all domestic competitions being completed by June 30.

The Telegraph are reporting UEFA ‘want the Champions League and Europa League to be completed and believe all leagues across Europe should restart at the same time’.

Their report continues: “That will spark more fears that the season may have to be declared void if the coronavirus outbreak makes it impossible for clubs to complete their fixture lists by June 30.”

Newcastle United have nine remaining Premier League fixtures to complete, while also having navigated themselves to the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time since 2006. Their St James’s Park clash against Manchester City was due to take place on Saturday, but the FA Cup, along with every other domestic football competition has been suspended.

Meanwhile, the New York Times are reporting that the European Championships will be put back 12 months and are now likely to take place next summer.

Reporter Tariq Panja this morning tweeted: “Understand that UEFA has now officially proposed to leagues and clubs at meeting taking place now the Euros to be delayed by a year to next summer, 2021. Decision still needs to be ratified by national federations who will be on follow up call, and then finally the exco.”

Ex-EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey thinks organisations need to make their decision – and make it fast.

Speaking to Sky Sports, he said: “If there’s one decision to be made and announced it’s ‘Whenever we start playing football again, we are going to finish the season’ – then we can all start looking at how we get over this, rather than trying to over analyse.”