“People’s lives are at risk” — Danny Rose calls the Premier League’s Project Restart “bulls—t”

If you had “Danny Rose” in the betting pool for which Tottenham Hotspur player would come out dropping fire-emoji takes in opposition to the restarting of the Premier League during the coronavirus pandemic, congratulations. Spurs’ firebrand and extremely outspoken Yorkshireman pulled no punches when talking about the COVID-19 pandemic and the league’s push to restart football while on Instagram Live today.

Here are his comments. They are... well, just read them.

“The government is saying we are bringing football back because it is going to boost the nation’s morale.

“I don’t give a fuck about the nation’s morale, people’s lives are at risk. Football shouldn’t even be spoke [sic] about coming back until the numbers have dropped massively. It’s bollocks. Well see. I’m supposed to tested on Friday so we will just have to wait and see.”

Say one thing for Danny Rose — say he speaks his mind. I’ve been saying for years now whenever Danny gets in “trouble” in the media for expressing opinions that aren’t the ones normally expressed by professional footballers that he’s been correct way, way more often than he’s been wrong.

And he’s right here. The UK government today gave the green light to have sporting events take place behind closed doors as soon as June 1, but there are many, many questions that still swirl around that timeline, and huge issues relating to the coronavirus that are still very much at the forefront of people’s minds relating to player safety. I’m with Danny on this one — as much as I miss football (and I really, REALLY do) player safety is of paramount importance, and preventing the spread of this virus trumps everything, especially entertainment for the masses.

Others may disagree with this take, and that’s fine. However, we’re fans and he’s a player — the one who will be out there risking exposure to the virus in order to “raise people’s morale.” Feels like he’s got every right to be upset and to express his fears in this situation, and thus far I’ve heard more players expressing concerns about starting up football than I have players in support.

It really does beg the question what Danny and others — and there are others — that feel like he does will do if the league votes later this week to restart matches. Will he play? Or will he take a principled stand and refuse to take the pitch? Knowing what I do about Danny, I have a pretty educated guess.

It sure does seem like battle lines are being drawn here. We may get more answers later this week.