Gary Taylor-Fletcher column: Looking forward to football's return

That’s not just because I’m a Liverpool fan, and it means we’ll now win the title for certain, but it’s a great development for football in general to get back to playing.

One of the big things that people will be looking at is grassroots football and what happens, because it’s important to get kids back playing.

I know my lad has been pulling his hair out because he can’t play properly. It’s alright going for a kickabout when it’s just the two of us but he’s missing playing with his mates.

I think, mentally, these little steps will be a big thing for everyone.

Six people can now meet as a group but obviously, when it’s children involved, that means parents have got to be involved as well.

But that means more and more kids can get together and have a kickabout which will be a good step forward.

It’s just these little things you probably take for granted when there’s no lockdown, but it’s just what you have to do to stick by the rules and ensure everyone is safe.

As for the return of the Premier League, it’s great to hear that every single game will be shown live on TV – many of them free-to-air too.

That’s one of the main things for me because you don’t want people not being able to watch the games when they’re not able to be at the ground itself for obvious reasons.

It’s a great gesture and it will be good to finally get some English football on TV after watching the German sides for the past couple of weeks.

There’s been talk of playing some games at neutral venues, especially some Liverpool fixtures, as there’s a chance of fans congregating to celebrate their title win.

But to be honest, if you look at the Bundesliga, in the first three weeks there’s only been three or four home wins so home advantage isn’t having much of an effect – so I don’t see much of a problem with hosting games away from your normal stadium.

With no fans there, it’s just a pitch you’re playing on. Some surfaces might be slightly bigger or slightly smaller but in the Premier League there can’t be that much difference due to all the regulations.

They’re saying the Liverpool fans will be outside the ground no matter what and yes, maybe you’ll get some that turn up.

But I’d imagine the vast majority will stay at home where they will be having their own party!

We all knew this anyway, but this just goes to show how important home advantage is when you do have supporters in the ground.

Everyone loves playing in front of their own fans. You look at when we were getting full houses at Blackpool in the Premier League, it’s where the majority of our best performances came.

We might not have got as many points as we did away from home, or it may have been pretty similar, but our best performances came at Bloomfield Road – especially against the bigger teams, the likes of Man City, Man United and Liverpool.

There had previously been a bit of talk about null and voiding the Premier League but thankfully that’s now completely off the table. You can’t null and void a season, especially when we’re this late into it.

For me, finishing this season is more important than starting next season. It should be everyone’s priority.

If you need to wait a few weeks or months to finish the season before you can start the next one then so be it, that’s what has to be done.

As for the EFL, they’ve yet to reach a decision and it seems to be dragging on and on.

The teams lower down the pyramid are the ones that are going to be struggling financially so you can understand their concerns.

But any team in the higher divisions, with the money they get from the Premier League, there should be no talk of ending the season – they’ve got to find a way to carry on.

In other news, we recently celebrated the 10th anniversary of Blackpool’s promotion to the Premier League and it was great to reminisce and look back.

The players were all messaging one another on WhatsApp and a few of us were doing podcasts and radio interviews, which was great.

It’s a shame we can’t be there with the fans to celebrate, mark the occasion and show them our appreciation, and vice versa, but there will be a time and a place and I’m sure we’ll get something sorted.

I’ve suggested doing something along the lines on the 10th anniversary of those few hours when we were top of the Premier League after our 4-0 opening day win at Wigan Athletic.

That was August 14, so perhaps there’s a chance we can get together and do something, but we’ll see.

There’s all sorts of implications and risks we have to think about but we will be looking to do something, so watch this space.