Chief executive Paul Barber says Albion and other Premier League clubs are grateful for the patience shown by fans, sponsors and commercial partners during the enforced break from action, insisting that there has been no ‘clamour to play football right now.’
The league has been suspended until 30th April at the earliest and the 20 top-flight clubs will discuss their options again when they meet on 3rd April.
Barber confirmed that there had been no discussions about a cut-off in the calendar after which there would be no point in completing the season.
He said, “There has definitely been no discussion on that. The Premier League is putting people’s health first, which is 100% right. You saw that when the Manchester City v Arsenal game was postponed at very short notice and when our game against Arsenal was called off shortly after that.
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“You saw that the Premier League was making sure its priorities were right. We have all been very clear – clubs, managers, players and fans - that we want to see the season finished if it is practically possible and safe to do so.
"The TV companies know the state the world is in, not just this country. But, of course, they also want their live content which they pay us for.
"So clearly we’ve all got a vested interest in getting games back on when it’s safe to do so. At the moment it’s hard to see past this particular period. Money is one thing, people’s health is quite another, and as much as the financial side is very important to us because it sustains all of our jobs we just need to hunker down, get through this period, keep people safe and in the background we can work through the contractual positions and try to get the games on when it’s safe to do so.
“The big problem is we just don’t know when that is but we have been very grateful for the patience of all our different commercial partners and sponsors, both at a league and a club level, and also the patience of fans.
“They understand how serious the situation is. Nobody is clamouring for us to play football right now. Everyone is mindful of the other priorities that exist in the country at the moment.”
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Barber also said that the Premier League were in regular dialogue with clubs’ sports science teams about how long it would take for squads to be match-fit once football got the green light to resume.
“That kind of information is being updated all the time,” he said. “I would imagine the longer players are away from their normal routine, then a little bit longer will be required to get back to that level of match fitness. That is a constant process that is going on.”
On a more practical level, Barber confirmed that the Amex and training ground pitches were being maintained. “We consider that to be essential work,” he said. “We have a very small team working, funnily enough, as they normally would when they are tending the pitch, they tend to be quite isolated across the surface.
“They are a very expensive piece of real estate that we just can’t allow to go to rack and ruin. The guys come in for the minimum amount of time, isolating properly while they are there and then go back home.”