MPs demand fans return to football matches this year
Midland MPs have called for the return of fans to live football matches after the lockdown ends next month.
They warned that many clubs outside the Premier League were on the verge of going bust due to Covid restrictions slashing revenue.
And they said clubs had spent months ensuring grounds were Covid secure, meaning there was no reason why supporters could not return after the lockdown finishes on December 2.
Clubs including Wolves, Villa, Albion, Walsall and Shrewsbury have been forced to play their games behind closed doors since March when coronavirus restrictions first kicked in.
Ministers wanted to allow fans back into grounds in October but scrapped the plans due to rising Covid cases.
Shrewsbury Town took part in a trial in which 1,000 fans were allowed into the Montgomery Waters Meadow for one game, but it was short-lived as more stringent measures were brought in shortly afterwards and further trials for the Football League were scrapped.
Speaking during a debate on a petition calling for the return of fans, Minister for Sport Nigel Huddleston said it was the Government’s intention to see fans return to football stadiums "as soon as possible".
However, he said there was currently no timetable for when restrictions would end, adding that a major challenge was "how spectators travel to and from venues and how that might impact on transmission rates".
Jonathan Gullis, the Conservative MP for Stoke-on-Trent North, said the English game "teeters on the brink of catastrophe", with many EFL clubs in a "financially unsustainable position".
"We are united, which is quite rare in this place, in the want for fans back in football stadia," he said.
"I just want to make it very clear for the record that as of the second of December, I will be expecting to see an announcement that fans are coming back into football stadiums."
Committed
Julian Knight, the Tory MP for Solihull, said lower league clubs depended on ticket revenue and now found themselves in "dire straits".
He said: "The key to seeing fans return to football is not just reducing Covid numbers but increasing our testing capacity.
"We need smart solutions: the expansion of rapid testing, temperature checks, deep cleaning and social distancing.
"Venues can never be 100 per cent Covid-secure, but they are doing all that they can, and there is always risk in life."
The petition was set up by Ashley Greenwood and signed by nearly 200,000 people.
In its response to the petition, the Government said: "We will take the earliest opportunity to look again at getting spectators safely back into stadia but this must clearly be done carefully against the prevailing health conditions.
"We are committed to getting spectators back into stadia as soon as it is safe to do so."