You could almost hear the groans and grumbles from London all the way up to Liverpool.

When the latest Premier League statement dropped on Friday afternoon, one matter was made abundantly clear.

The show must go on – albeit not any time soon.

For fans of Arsenal, Tottenham Hotspur, West Ham United and other failing capital clubs, there now seems no escaping a campaign of underachievement, the prospect of declaring the season null and void no longer on the table, replaced instead by a collective determination to complete the season when it is safe to do so.

Liverpool, a record 25 points clear at the summit and needing only two wins from their remaining nine games to clinch a first title since 1990, stand to be obvious beneficiaries.

That, though, wouldn’t have formed part of the reasoning behind the Premier League’s decision.

Far more instructive was UEFA’s own meeting on Wednesday, which cleared the way for domestic leagues to play out the remainder of their campaigns.

Indeed, it was later suggested that a failure to do so would compromise future Champions League and Europa League places, lucrative revenue streams for many clubs.

As always in these situations, money talks.

Football has been criticised for having the nerve to even hold discussions concerning future plans.

This is somewhat curious. As has become clear in recent days, there are thousands of people besides highly-paid players who rely on the sport for their income.

After all, if you the reader are currently furloughed or facing a significant temporary pay cut, and your industry or company isn’t planning their next steps as the crisis deepens, you’d surely ask some serious questions.

So why should the Premier League, or indeed any of the other leagues and sports pondering their latest moves, be any different?

Of course, the Premier League is in some regards. Finance, for one. And that’s why it was heartening to see clubs pledge £125million to EFL and National League outfits, as well as make an immediate £20m donation to the NHS.

In addition, a potential 30% wage cut or deferral for players will be discussed by the PFA on Saturday. One in the eye for health secretary Matt Hancock who, while prompted by a question during Thursday’s daily press conference, couldn’t resist putting the boot into footballers after Tottenham’s ill-judged statement the previous day.

And then there’s the initiative being organised by Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson, who has been in contact with 19 other Premier League skippers to pitch the idea of a coronavirus crisis fund.

For their part, the Reds have been admirably quiet on the possibility of voiding the season, despite no doubt understandably being keen to resume their title challenge when realistically possible.

However, Liverpool assistant manager Pep Lijnders did drop a hint on Friday.

“We can’t wait to start again when the time is right and it is safe to do so – we want to finish and finish in our style,” he said.

Friday’s statement has provided much-needed clarity and ended what had become a tiresome and distracting debate.

The Premier League will resume at a later date. And Liverpool will be ready to finish what they have so impressively started.