Bowyer on football's potential return, points per game and his team's training

Lee Bowyer is hopeful his side can get back out on the pitch and playing to finish the 2019/20 season. 

The Addicks moved into the relegation zone for the first time this campaign the game before the season was postponed.

It has been suggested that a points per game system may be used should the season not be completed. If the system were to be implemented then Charlton would be vulnerable to relegation.

The Addicks’ boss said: “If they would have postponed the season before the Middlesbrough game, our last game, then we wouldn’t be in a position to be relegated. If they would have allowed us to play the game on the Saturday [against Hull City], which got cancelled on the Friday, then there is a good chance we would have won that game because Hull was in a difficult situation with a lot of injuries, so I think there was a good chance we would have gone there and won and then climbed two or three places.

“We’ve been in the bottom three one time this season since day one, to be in it for such a short space of time to be relegated would be wrong on every level. It wouldn’t be fair on our football club.”

He added: “People will say that it is easy for me to say, because we’ve slipped into the bottom three but of course I would rather finish the season playing.

“I would have still said the same, even if we weren’t in the bottom three. Say it was finished the week before and Middlesbrough were in the bottom three. I would still say the same thing, it’s wrong, there are nine games to play and there are a lot of points to play for. I was looking at our run-in way before then and I was thinking ‘our run-in isn’t bad, compared to the others that are in and around us’. I was quite happy with the run-in and thinking ‘yeah, we’ve got a good chance here’.

"I would have still said the same if Middlesbrough or Wigan had been in the bottom three. I would have said ‘you can’t send teams down, there is still a lot to play for’. Ideally play the season out but if you can’t, you can’t just relegate teams because that wouldn’t be right.” 

The Addicks were set to resume training this week and further government guidance is expected on Tuesday following Sunday’s speech from the Prime Minister.

“The players have been doing well,” Bowyer continued. 

“They’ve been keeping themselves ticking over. They’ll be ready to come in when or if we are allowed to. Obviously things have to be in place, we can’t just say ‘right, you’re in tomorrow’. The medical staff will need PPE stuff for their health and safety. We’ll do a regime where they come in as individuals. We are ready for it but there is a lot of boxes have to be ticked before we can do that.

“Everyone wants to play, that’s their job, that’s their life. They want to play football. If we do get the go ahead to start training again then we are going to make it optional. A couple of the players, their wives are pregnant and they might not feel that it’s safe, so we will give them the option to come in and train individually, if they choose not to then we’ll figure out a plan around it but we’ve definitely got a few things lined up ready to go.”

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