I sense that, after the news last week that football would be suspended during the coronavirus outbreak, most people are of the same mindset.

As frustrating as it is, as much as everyone wants to go to the football, as much as people are missing it and want it back on as soon as possible – players, managers, supporters, media – you have to be realistic right now.

If anyone in your family suddenly contracted the virus, you would quickly realise that it is just a sport, in the end. Some people who haven’t been exposed to it might find it hard to see football being sidelined for a while but it isn’t difficult to understand.

You do miss the weekly football fix. It’s not just the match; people live their lives around the game. It’s what they look forward to. It’s their release.

There will be lots of things connected to losing such a big part of people’s lives that probably haven’t even been considered. Some will be struggling mentally with not going, others will be finding the financial side of the cancellations a challenge.

It is, let’s be honest, a horrendous time, but it is clearly the right thing to suspend everything, take a breather and buy that time until April, to start with, for the game to regroup and for us all to learn more about it.

There is, just now, too much scaremongering going on, too much guesswork. Everyone is an expert at the moment.

It reminds me of the Bitcoin situation: everyone was an expert on that after the event, but in the moment it is surely better to take stock and look at things rationally.

Football was effectively halted after Mikel Arteta was found to have contracted the virus. After two or three days he was said to be fine, the same going for Callum Hudson-Odoi.

We heard over the weekend that a baby had contracted it, but was said to be fine.

There are other reports of a different nature, and we are often reading about the tally of people who have been infected, and the number of deaths.

There are a lot of stories out there but we don’t have enough information yet on exactly what to make of it.

UEFA are meeting today, and instead of rushing something through I feel they should postpone Euro 2020, which would give people an opportunity to finish leagues.

It might enable domestic authorities to start again at a later time, rather than try to hurry back in April.

In the Premier League, I feel they can probably get away with not starting again. Financially they can cover that.

The idea I’ve heard which is probably the best one is to increase the size of the league for a year, to 22 teams. Leeds and West Brom could justifiably go up and I don’t think anyone would have any qualms with Liverpool being awarded the title.

I feel, though, there is a case for the Championship, League One, League Two and the National League to carry on in some capacity.

You know, even though everyone is talking about health being the top priority right now, what will kick off down the line: legal cases and challenges about play-offs, promotions, relegations, players out of contract, and so on.

So to my mind you have to try and get the games played somehow, and have a result, even if it is behind closed doors.

I watched Galatasaray v Besiktas on Sunday night, which was played in an empty stadium. It had 0-0 written all over it all day. There was no buzz from the crowd inspiring the forward players, not the adrenaline you normally get, and less pressure on defences as a consequence.

It is a different mental preparation for players, but it delivered a result, which takes one problem out of the way. Then it is down to the authorities to look at the financial implications.

Making the divisions null and void could cause chaos in the long run. But, the same time as saying all this, you have to consider whether you could justify carrying on if the virus outbreak gets worse.

The situation could change every day - it might have changed even since these words were written - which makes it doubly hard for those who have to make the decisions.

I spoke to five players over the weekend about what they make of it. Those involved in play-off pushes are gutted.

Those who are safe, secure and know they don’t realistically have a chance of going up…it is a different mentality. When we at Carlisle got to the final days of the 2006/7 season, having established ourselves well in League One after promotion and without a realistic chance of going up again, there was that change of feeling – a bit more time off, not the same intensity, more leeway from the manager. It probably feels a bit like that to some now.

But in the case of someone like Danny Graham, who has a play-off push on his hands at Blackburn, those players will really want to go back in and play if it’s safe to do so.

I can sympathise with that. In 2005/6, this was the stage when we were really hitting form on our way to the League Two title. If that season had been rendered null and void, we would have been absolutely devastated.

It is a tough and weird situation to be in and I don’t envy anyone whose job it is to make sense of it, and come up with a solution that everyone can get on board with.

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Instead of going to Grimsby to commentate on Carlisle’s game on Saturday, I went for a walk in Gelt Woods with my family.

It was lovely. But still – any day, give me that trip to Grimsby!

The good thing was, I think my family realised that, although they moan sometimes when I go away for the football, they are now desperate for the games to start again to get me out of there…

The game, in all seriousness, gives a buzz to people that you can’t easily replace.

It is everything about the unknown of travelling somewhere, whether that’s Brunton Park or an away ground, to watch the game.

It is the talking about it, the thinking about it, the anticipation.

When you are a player, you soon realise you don’t get the same adrenaline and buzz anywhere else.

It is different, but also has similarities, when you are a supporter.

It is part of your Saturday. Lives are structured around it. So when it is suddenly cancelled, you feel totally out of sync.

It is a bit like when you are off at Christmas. After a while, you start wanting to go back. Your routine is all over the place.

You do wonder what the effect will be of people getting out of the habit of going to football.

It could go one of two ways: people might miss it completely, but others might have their eyes opened to all sorts of other things they could have been doing instead all that time.

They might be looking at their TV subscriptions and wondering if they really need it after all.

Hopefully, though, it will have the opposite effect of making people realise how much they love the game, and seeing them return in bigger numbers once matches are back on.

Former Carlisle United midfielder Chris Lumsdon was talking to Jon Colman.