Town boss Paul Lambert says there’s a strong case for football to be stopped given the current prevalence of Covid-19 and believes continuing to play is “morally wrong”.

Lambert was among 11 players and staff, along with general manager of football operations Lee O’Neill and academy head of coaching and player development Bryan Klug, to test positive for the virus just before Christmas with the Blues having four games postponed due to that outbreak and those at other clubs.

Asked on BBC 5 Live Breakfast (2hrs 44mins 2secs) whether football should be stopped, Lambert said: “I think there’s a strong case for it. I’ve had it and I’m going by the symptoms, the way I felt. It was the worst ever, it really was.

“The NHS people and the care workers are doing an incredible job of putting themselves on the line, and footballers are asked to go and play a game. I just don’t get it. It’s not entertainment, it’s not the same game without fans. It’s not the same game.”

Do other people in football hold a similar view? “A lot of them I’ve spoken to because footballers are human beings as well, they’re human and morally, I think us playing football is wrong.

“I get it why people want us [to continue] as it keeps everybody right, but who’s protecting the players and the staff at every other club because they’re going to get it, and they have been getting it, as you’ve seen.

“It doesn’t matter how stringent the protocols are, the virus seeps in somewhere and it’s opening everything out.

“Now the new rules on whether we can celebrate or not celebrate, can we shake hands, can we not shake hands, everything’s coming on top of football at the minute and I think it’s a heavy weight to carry.”

Players are being called on not to celebrate goals due to the risks of spreading the virus but Lambert says that’s a natural aspect of the game.

“I’ve had it, I’m still recovering. I’ve never felt as bad as this for years and years, I can’t remember the last time I felt as bad as this, so it’s certainly real, that’s for sure,” he said.

“I just don’t get it, we’re asked to play football and celebrations are part of the game, it is an instinct thing, you run to your team-mate.

“If that’s the Government rules or what they’re laying down is that if someone scores a goal don’t go near them then everybody has to try and get that in their head. But it’s a difficult thing.

“The thing for me is that there are too many questions being asked about what’s right and what’s wrong.

“If the players do something wrong they get criticised, but they’re asked to play, which I don’t get because you’re stopping tennis, you’re stopping golf. They’re metres apart but you’re asking footballers to play when they’re inches apart, so I don’t get it. But this Covid thing is really, really incredible, what’s happened to the world.”

Is it possible to have more muted, socially-distanced celebrations? “You’re going to have to find it from somewhere. I’m pretty sure if you played football as a kid in the park and you scored a goal or your mate scored a goal, you’d run up to them and say ‘well done’. You’d have to get that instinct when your team-mate’s scored a goal you leave him be.

“As I said before, I was unfortunate, I had it and it was horrendous, it’s a horrendous virus.

“We’re making so many rules for football so it can get finished, we’re asking players to go into different tiers.

“I know they’re getting tested negative but you never know when this thing can get you. It can get you in the blink of an eye really and I think that’s the big thing - football still has to go and play and try and put entertainment on.

“It’s not entertainment any more, and this is my opinion, it’s not entertainment this is just trying to get a season finished and try and move on.”

Asked how he contracted the virus, Lambert explained: “It was a really strange one because one of the lads at the club got tested and it came back negative, [but] his flu test came back positive.

“We had a goal celebration and we thought he had it and he it turned out he never had it, it turned out one of the other lads had it.

“So we all got tested and all of a sudden I think about eight of us got it, including another member of staff, and I was nowhere near them. I was two metres apart from them in the dressing room.

“But you never know where you get it from. I don’t know, I really don’t. But what I do know is that I’ve never felt as bad as that in my life.

“When you’re in the shower, your hair is sore, your head’s sore, the headaches and pneumonia, everything was breaking down. So I’ve got a strong opinion on it, I just don’t see how football should be exempt.”

He added: “You’re asking players to go and play a game when everybody else can’t move [into] different tiers. For example, how can Ipswich go and travel to play Sunderland or Fleetwood or wherever?

“Everybody’s in the same boat where we are with this virus, nobody’s immune to getting it. How can you stop tennis and how can you stop other tiers of football playing and keep the bigger ones going?”

Photo: Matchday Images

RegencyBlue added 11:57 - Jan 14 That explains a lot!
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muhrensleftfoot added 12:01 - Jan 14 Well at long last Lambert has said something sensible and for once I agree with him.
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MoscowBlueMule added 12:03 - Jan 14 Actually I don't agree. Putting ITFC aside for one moment, having football on the TV is a massive escape for many many 100,000's of people who are stuck at home. It's an emotional outlet during a very difficult psychological time. Metal health is a massive part of the covid lockdown, football for many helps. Glutton for punishment, but I still look forward ITFC playing. I still hope we'll turn things around. As they say hope dies last............

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tractorboybig added 12:05 - Jan 14 i think its morally wrong you are still our manager
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vanmunt added 12:08 - Jan 14 TLDR: did he mention he played in Germany?
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RobTheMonk added 12:10 - Jan 14 As rubbish as I think he's been, I'm not going to have a go for him saying this. It's a valid comment especially if you've got players going all round the UK. The fact that he's obviously had a rough time with Covid also means he's going to be a bit tetchy about it all.
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BettyBlue added 12:10 - Jan 14 if you can't play football without kissing and hugging and spitting and hand shaking its time to stop.
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Bluearmy71 added 12:12 - Jan 14 Morally I think it wrong to continue playing 1 up front when its clearly not working when thousands of Ipswich fans and allegedly (tunnel bust up after Swindon defeat) players alike are wanting you to play to the players strengths..........I.E a 442.....just in case you've forgotten Paul that formation means you play 2 players up front!!
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BarbelBoy added 12:19 - Jan 14 This article sums up perfectly the dilemma that I have with PL. Thank you for actually quoting his radio comments in full. He just seems incapable of stringing a coherent sentence together - his explanation of how he contracted the virus is priceless and I defy anyone to actually follow the logic of what he says. Trouble is, that also reflects his post match comments which are often unclear and incomprehensible and I fear that his team and tactics talks must be in a similar vein. That said he is commenting upon an important issue. I have huge sympathy for anyone who has had the virus and that experience is bound to influence their view upon whether football and the other elite sports should continue to be played. Yes the players are being put at a greater risk than if they were all isolating at home but on the other hand the very fact that the professional game is continuing has a huge beneficial effect upon the mental wellbeing of millions of supporters. Knowing that we are playing at Burton on Saturday gives a focus to my week as do the regular checks that I make on TWTD to see what the injury situation is or whether we are trying to bring in a new loan signing etc. Maybe those actually involved in the game don't really understand just how important it is to the lives of the fans. Whether that is sufficient reason to ask the players to put themselves at greater risk is a matter of personal judgement and like most difficult issues there isn't a definite right or wrong. As a team we have been doing our bit to uphold the social distancing rules. There's inevitably a two metre gap between our captain and his team mates and our tactics make the likelihood of our needing to celebrate a goal more of a theoretical musing than a practical reality. Also, on that particular point I saw Harry Kane exercising appropriate restraint when celebrating his goal last night so if he and his team mates can do it then so can others. Finally a thought about PL's position. There comes a point in every managers time at a club when things start to go stale and their "project" starts to drift. I'm not too sure what PL's "project" was but it is clear for everyone to see when he is on the touchline that he no longer has that zest or enthusiasm that he once did. If I am right then it is surely inevitable that the players will be aware of it and in turn be affected by the malaise. A really good manager will know their own weaknesses and that includes knowing when the time is right to bow out for the benefit of the club. I am obviously not alone in thinking that PL should have reached that conclusion at the end of last season. That he appears to retain the confidence of the owner is just very surprising. Marcus Evans must employ dozens of managers within his various corporate structures and I doubt that there will be many if any who have so persistently failed to provide the required results and yet still retained their posts. A change of manager entails taking a risk but given PL's rather abject performance and results over the last two years or so it would surely be a minimal risk.

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MickMillsTash added 12:23 - Jan 14 My solution Stop the season Furlough the players. I-follow can put on Saturday afternoon and Tuesday night re-runs from the 80-81 and 99-00 season Lambert can be given a post match interview asking whether he thought it seemed a good idea to play attacking football in the final third vs his version where we play attacking football in our own half. For extra entertainment he gets electrocuted if he mentions Dortmund or Celtic

3

TimmyH added 12:32 - Jan 14 That will give PL sometime again away from the mutiny on the bounty (his dressing room)...and he'll hope they might have calmed down by the time the season starts again if it ever does.
1

Europablue added 12:38 - Jan 14 The young fit players are not really risking much in playing football. People are picking up the virus going to the supermarket and the doctor, so there really isn't a way to avoid the virus, just to reduce the risk slightly. In the lower leagues, including ours, teams are playing for their survival, so I would say on that reasoning it is worth the increased risk to avoid losing a huge part of many communities. The same goes for shops, restaurants, etc. We can't afford to destroy everything in a vain attempt to save every life when a certain number of people are going to die whatever we do, so there has to be a balance. The whole debate about footballers hugging is just about virtue signalling and jealousy from the people who have been told not to hug their family members and are following stupid rules like that laid down by the government. Footballers are around each other enough to provide the virus with an opportunity to spread, so it makes hardly any difference to their chances of spreading the virus if they hug or not.

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BlueNomad added 12:49 - Jan 14 The comments on here say a lot about people. PL was talking as a human being who has suffered from the virus and is concerned about other people getting it. He also points out how the rules about travelling don't seem to apply in the case of football teams. Still people see it as a chance to knock him as a manager rather than as a man. Pathetic.
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Saxonblue74 added 12:53 - Jan 14 I really can't believe the attitude some STILL have toward this virus. This is not just young fit players at risk. What about managers, physios, coaching staff, back room staff and all their families? And comparing to supermarkets and doctors still functioning? Really? PL has just described how it affected him, and he got away with it lightly compared to many. Watch the news people, and if you still think football should continue just for our entertainment then there really is no hope. Opinions toward PL and everything Ipswich Town bear no relevance to this whatsoever.

5

MonkeyAlan added 13:08 - Jan 14 Morally wrong to play football, that's fair enough. But let's be honest Mr Lambert, Ipswich haven't been playing football all season.
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Ipswichbusiness added 13:11 - Jan 14 Run the numbers and look at the evidence. The disease in its severe form (that leads to death) is primarily a disease of people aged over 65 and those with significant pre-existing medical conditions. Neither of those applies to professional football players or most of the staff. (There is also a statistical link between the severe form of the virus and certain BAME groups, but no-one is really sure why that should be.) I have not seen any evidence that young men travelling the country in coaches spreads the virus.

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herobobby added 13:25 - Jan 14 Mate we haven't played football ⚽️ for years
2

boltzak added 13:27 - Jan 14 I suppose he can't get the sack if we're not playing.
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Devereuxxx added 13:28 - Jan 14 So that's why we've been playing such rancid anti-football - moral objections
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MrJase_79 added 13:40 - Jan 14 Lamberts job looks to be saved by C-19 two seasons in a row. Wonder what the odds are of that.
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potter added 13:46 - Jan 14 From a non football playing perspective regarding what's happening on the pitch at the moment, Paul Lambert has a serious point, how can football continue when we are in a serious pandemic with numbers at high levels like last March/April/May when it was all postponed. Are footballers key workers? Cause I'm struggling to see the case where they are in a position to let them play. I get darts and snooker say because it's a single person sport but anything regarding being part of a team and have physical interaction with someone else surely shouldn't be taking place at the moment

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Jimmyonthewing added 14:01 - Jan 14 If it wasn't for the fact that our government opened pandoras box when they let nearly 2 million university students move around the UK in every direction back in September, giving the virus a foothold in every corner of the UK Mr Lambert would have a more valid point. A few dozen footballers is not really pouring petrol on the flames to a significant extent
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pistolpete added 14:01 - Jan 14 Morally, I think you not doing the decent thing and stepping down as manager is wrong Mr Lambert.
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stiff_talking added 14:27 - Jan 14 Is he and his players prepared to earn no money whilst they take a break ? What about all the support staff that need income to live , It's a bigger picture than kicking a ball around
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multiplescoregasms added 14:51 - Jan 14 Morally, I think the way we play foorball is wrong.
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