Walsall chairman Leigh Pomlett: Changes will come to football following coronavirus

The club last played on March 7 and since then football has been suspended indefinitely – with no current decision made on its return.

Several ideas and theories have been discussed on how to bring football back, as well as how the lower league clubs will survive in the future. With that, talk of caps on player salaries and squad sizes have been touted and Pomlett believes a 'new norm' will emerge following the pandemic, which will see major changes to the game.

"At all levels of the game it will change and we shouldn't miss the opportunity," he said.

"From top to bottom of football it will change and become more sensible.

"You will see more young players in League One and League Two and the realistic prospect of capping squad size and capping the financial expenditure on players – not by individual but by total club – as a consequence of coronavirus.

"I have to say it's long overdue – we'll see those new norms come into the football world.

"It's just such a pity that it takes coronavirus for football to take a real good look at itself and say 'what are we doing'.

"Walsall is such a well thought through and managed club, I say that not through my chairmanship but over the years.

"It's not always made us that popular but you can see now that we've hit a crisis, that clubs that have been well managed will survive the crisis a lot easier than those that did not.

"It will kick those that did not into a new norm.

"We're actually going to carry on as we've always done in some respects but it makes it far more even in terms of the playing field compared to other football clubs.

"We mustn't miss it, we have to adapt to a different way in the future and I'll make sure that Walsall are well placed for that.

"It's nothing to be scared about, it's just a change from the way football has been administered over the last 40 or 50 years, because it's facing the biggest challenge it's faced over the last 40 or 50 years.

"Therefore, you have to adapt. It's going to be a painful process that you go through but this is ultimately a good thing that could come out of this if you manage the situation sensibly."

Manager Darrell Clarke echoed his chairman's thoughts and insisted that a 'reset' is needed in football to right the wrongs in the game.

"I think it's a good time for everybody to come together and for football to have a good reset and look at how clubs are run," he said.

"It's an important time for football in this disaster period, it's a good time to reset and start putting a lot of the things that are wrong with the game, right.

"Hopefully the organisations can come together with proper leadership skills for the good of the game."