Aston Villa chief executive Christian Purslow has said that the Premier League needs to be protected above leagues lower down the football period due to the money it generates.

Purslow came out and publicly opposed the idea of completing the Premier League season at neutral venues, joining Brighton and West Ham in doing so.

EFL chairman Rick Parry has also spoken publicly, saying things would get "very messy" if the Premier League tried to block promotion from the Championship this season.

But Purslow responded with a damning verdict on the finances of the Football League, saying the Premier League needed to be protected first and foremost as the money it generates is vital for the entire pyramid.

"The EFL has grave financial problems and those problems predate Covid-19," he said. "I think what Covid has done is expose the fact the league is unsustainable at every level.

"One of the reasons I feel very strongly that we need to complete the season and protect TV revenue is that the Premier League really is the driver of revenue that filters throughout English football."

League Managers Association chief executive Richard Bevan warned the season could be cancelled if clubs did not agree to playing at neutral venues.

"The Government, if they haven't already, will be making it clear that home matches with densely populated stadia really puts into question whether social distancing rules can be adhered to and without doubt that will be on the voting next Monday with the clubs," he said.

Bevan said there was no suggestion players or managers were being coerced into a restart and that plans to ensure safety - including testing procedures - would be outlined to players and managers next week.

A small group of club doctors have raised a number of concerns, including approving guidelines which still carry the threat of death, liability, testing and insurance, transmission of the virus via sweat and goalkeeper gloves, suspicions that some clubs are already ignoring guidelines, an increased risk to BAME (black, Asian and minority ethnic) employees, and the ability of emergency services to attend training ground incidents.

Bevan told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "Next week the medical and operational protocols are going to be presented to the managers and indeed the players.

"Hopefully there will be solutions that create this safe environment, in the meantime we're staying very open-minded and as always the managers take their responsibility to the game very seriously on all these issues."

Bevan said he was expecting to receive the protocols covering testing, tracking, personal protective equipment and guidelines of social distancing on Thursday ahead of the meeting next week.

A seven-page document, drawn up by the Premier League's director of football Richard Garlick, talks about players wearing masks or snoods at training.

Epidemiologist Rowland Kao told the PA news agency last month that masks were a "sensible" precaution.

"It's unclear how much protection those masks would be, but it would seem sensible to put as many precautions as you could in place," he said.

But Brighton striker Glenn Murray branded the idea of wearing face masks as "farcical".

Bevan said there was no suggestion that managers would be involved in any coercion of players.

"They're the voice and leaders of clubs and teams but they always demonstrate calm leadership and that's what we need," he said.

"Whatever the pressures, physical, psychological well-being of players, coaches and indeed all the personnel, that will come first and foremost."

Medical officials from a number of sports governing bodies are meeting representatives from Public Health England on Wednesday, the second of the weekly meetings.