Chris Sutton’s column in today’s Daily Record is very different from his usual fare.
Normally on a Saturday you could expect the former Celtic striker to highlight an overlooked incident from the previous week or indulge in some trolling whether it was the failings of Mark Warburton, Pedro Caixinha or Steven Gerrard under the spotlight.
Not so today.
Over the last ten days issues more important than transfer policies, tactical changes and squad rotation have taken over. The timing of when football resumes is no longer so relevant.
At tea-time last night Boris Johnson effectively put the UK into lockdown. Pubs, cafes, restaurants, cinemas and gyms were closing their doors with a monthly review as to when they might open.
With perfect timing, in his Daily Record column Sutton writes
But if you didn’t realise the seriousness of this situation beforehand, and how little the handing out of trophies and titles really matters, the footage over the past 24 hours from the hospital ward in the Italian town of Bergamo must surely have brought it all home. It is absolutely horrendous.
The sight of staff fighting to keep people alive while they are lying stricken brought this all home. The importance of football and sport in all of our lives is simply overpowering.
Opinions, debate, supporting our team. It’s part of the fabric woven into most of our psyches. It gives us our joy and pain in equal measure and it isn’t just football which is having to sit and suffer.
There may be other sports out there which you don’t like that much but they are suffering just as much. The entire global sporting arena is on virtual lockdown and there’s a gaping void.
When Sutton stops throwing knock out blows and gags you know that things are serious, very serious.
