Preston North End boss Alex Neil: Health comes first, football can wait

With fixtures suspended until April 30 at the earliest, competitive sport is in deep freeze for the foreseeable future.

The PNE squad have not trained for a week and are not due back until April 6.

That date could change with the current lockdown and health advice.

Neil has been keeping himself busy planning for when training resumes and the season starts again.

However, he knows his job at the moment is far less significant than others.

Neil told PNE’s official website: “Football is entertainment.

“You go to watch your team with the highs and lows of winning and losing games.

“When you try and put that in comparison to people possibly losing loved ones, or being ill themselves, it pales into insignificance.

“We are there to do a job and to try and supply a product that we deem to be good enough, in terms of quality and entertainment.

“When the world is being affected as badly as it is at the moment, by a virus, then football can sometimes be a healthy distraction for that.

“Unfortunately, at the moment, like everybody else, we have to wait and see what the next couple of weeks or months bring.”