Brescia owner Massimo Cellino has decried hopes that Serie A could be restarted before the end of the campaign, saying that football must come second to combatting the "plague" of coronavirus.
The Italian city has been one of the epicentres of Europe's Covid-19 pandemic, with a higher rise in confirmed cases than any other location on Tuesday, as authorities continue to struggle to contain the spread of the disease.
The club sit at the foot of the top-flight, having seen a merry-go-round campaign of hiring and firing in the coaching job not unlike that presided over by Cellino during his days as owner of Leeds United.
But the 64-year-old says that football is the furthest thing from his mind as his nation sits in the grip of its greatest peacetime crisis in recent memory.
“I keep getting news from Brescia, and it’s all unbelievable," he told Corriere dello Sport . "Yet, the city is facing this with a disconcerting dignity.
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"It’s breaking my heart. They have parents, family, friends and acquaintances who are dying every day, and they are suffering but in silence.
"People only have one desire, to get back to work and start living again. And you want to talk to me about the championship, about the title?
"I don’t give a sh*t. I’m scared to leave the house, I’ve got a depression coming on.
“If we’re speaking in terms of football, everything must be postponed to next season. We must be realistic, gentlemen. This is the plague.
“[The fans] don’t want it to start again. They’re the ones who forbid it, not the federation. Life comes first. There are ultras who are in hospital on oxygen, others who are mourning their loved ones, and others who are still intubated.
"We can’t play again this year. Let’s start thinking about next season. Some people still haven’t realised what’s going on, and those people are worse than the virus itself.
"I don’t believe in miracles anymore, I haven’t for some time now. The season’s been and gone, if someone wants to have that damned Scudetto then let them have it. Done. It’s over.
"I’m not saying this because Brescia are last. We are bottom because we deserve it. Let them do what they want. I’m thinking about those who are going to lose their job, those who are dying."