It’s generally been accepted that if there is any chance of the current season being completed, the matches will take place behind closed doors. The reason being that it cannot be extended indefinitely, unless the football authorities write off an entire season, and the timeframe means that it certainly won’t be regarded as safe for paying spectators to gather in number to watch a match.

There is a huge will to get football going again. The clubs have outgoings they need television money to cover, mass media makes income from live sport, fans want something to watch - even if it has to be on television - and the gambling industry certainly needs matches for revenue (and options on betting sites uk can be researched if you are interested in bonus offers). However, the great unknown is when it will be regarded as safe for people to attend football stadiums again, and the reality is that even when that decision is made, there will be a significant number of individuals who are not going to risk it until there is a vaccine that can prevent COVID-19 meaning an extended stay in hospital and possibly worse. Where Arsenal are concerned, if we take the average age of a season ticket holders at being in their late 40s, it means a significant number will be above retirement age. Many will decide to give up on their season tickets unless the club offers a season’s sabbatical, which would be the right thing to do.

Of course, this decision may be made for supporters anyway. It really depends on how much life is going to change, because until there is a laboratory produced way to combat the virus (there already is a natural one by the way – it’s by strengthening your immune system, but the authorities aren’t really pushing that one) those susceptible to suffering badly if they contract it are not going to be safe.

Certainly, as business re-open and start operating again, it seems obvious that the practice of social distancing will be employed as much as possible, although the key things to combat it will be people who show any symptoms being sent home, obsessive hygienic practices and a definite prevention of any gatherings of people. This is difficult to police outside of the workplace as is it. The weather sees many youngsters meet up and mingle, and to them, it’s not a huge risk. For those they subsequently come into contact with, it may well be a different matter, but some fail to see the bigger picture.

Anyway, the slow return to work and the re-opening of businesses will be such a staggered affair that it is difficult to envisage concerts and sporting events taking place in front of spectators. The Atlanta v Valencia Champions League Round of 16 first leg was regarded with hindsight as a factor in the rapid spread of the virus in northern Italy. The belief is that the summer in the northern hemisphere will lessen the spread of the virus, but that when autumn comes and temperatures drop, we should brace ourselves for a second wave. It’s impossible to see large crowds being allowed given the likely exponential spread of the virus unless there is a draconian policy to isolate the vulnerable – and that is a huge decision for the authorities.

At the same time, at some point more economic activity needs to get going again, but the matter of how much how soon will surely see many businesses go under unless the government continue to bail them out – and the delays we are already seeing there do not offer huge encouragement. It’s easy to envisage a huge number of lower league clubs going to the wall unless they are contractually allowed to furlough playing staff, which is a can of worms in itself.

In America, the view of Zach Binney, a PhD in epidemiology who wrote his dissertation on injuries in the NFL is that "we will not have sporting events with fans until we have a vaccine", with the process of developing and widely distributing a vaccine likely to take 12 to 18 months.

As for the participants in what is a contact sport (let’s skip the gags about social distancing in some of Arsenal’s defending), if they are to return to action, there will be strict protocols about who they are subsequently allowed to mix with – and here again, the prospect of some form of draconian isolation of the vulnerable rears its ugly head. Let’s face it, if you have a relative in a care home right now, you’d have good reason to be very worried.

My own belief is that football will return, and that it will have to involve some strategy whereby the dangers of infection outside the healthy group of athletes that take part is devised. But even if things do resume, it does appear as if, until the 2021-22 season kicks off, we will all be watching it on TV or online. Strange times indeed.