Using players as guinea pigs would wipe out Premier League’s integrity

Anyone who has spent the best part of an hour just waiting to cross a supermarket threshold in the past few weeks will be aware how quickly the outlandish becomes the new normal. Yet even in these strange days it was still odd to hear Gordon Taylor pop up on the radio with the suggestion that shortened games might be the solution to finishing the Premier League season sometime before the clocks go back.

How that would have helped maintain the integrity of the competition or assisted those clubs worried they might be relegated in less than optimum circumstances remained unclear, for the Premier League was pooh-poohing the idea proposed by the Professional Footballers’ Association’s leader as ridiculous and unfounded within hours.

Premi…