Football without Fans

[NLVMalc]

**FOOTBALL WITHOUT FANS**

 

The Football Supporters’ Association - @WeAreTheFSA have a National Council meeting this Sunday.

 

@OfficialPVFC fans should football beginning without fans in #ValePark? Should @EFL wait until October when some fans can? Let me know your thoughts?

[newchapel valiant]

I think what Shrewsbury proposed makes sense in playing leasing trophy games first behind closed doors until fans are allowed back. 

Not many fans attend these games anyway and clubs get money from progressing, so would at least have some income from playing. 

Also play league Cup as same as above. 

 

[NLVMalc]

Thanks NV

[TheSage]

It's a tricky one - obviously! 

I think I'd tend towards starting in September, with or without fans, and seeing how it goes. It would not bother me if we played behind closed doors for a month and slowly some fans were admitted. 
No-one knows what is around the corner and at least if we get things up and running asap it gives us a bit of breathing space if things need re-examining in the winter.

I just think we need to get things moving if we can. If we wait until it's safe for all fans to return we'll be waiting for ever. I don't like it. No fan does. But I'd be happy to see a Sept 12th kick off even if I'm not there.

You can't please everyone, Malcolm, and you'll get a range of answers, I'm sure.

[ginginator]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/53610375 

Things keep changing, who knows what will happen next.

If these pilot events are postponed, then the season with crowds looks to be on a cliff edge.

[newchapel valiant]

34 minutes ago, TheSage said:

It's a tricky one - obviously! 

I think I'd tend towards starting in September, with or without fans, and seeing how it goes. It would not bother me if we played behind closed doors for a month and slowly some fans were admitted. 
No-one knows what is around the corner and at least if we get things up and running asap it gives us a bit of breathing space if things need re-examining in the winter.

I just think we need to get things moving if we can. If we wait until it's safe for all fans to return we'll be waiting for ever. I don't like it. No fan does. But I'd be happy to see a Sept 12th kick off even if I'm not there.

You can't please everyone, Malcolm, and you'll get a range of answers, I'm sure.

I think the idea of leasing games and league Cup rounds played first is because some clubs are saying they can't afford to start without fans. 

This way at least some competition money would be received by clubs. Plus not many fans attend these games in the early rounds. 

We gave up a chance of play offs / promotion to support the clubs who could not afford to play behind closed doors, so to now make them start the season behind closed doors would make that pointless. 

[NLVMalc]

Thanks for the comments so far. It will be important to feed these, and any others yet to come, into the fans council meeting, together with views from other clubs.

[robf]

I'd love for football to have crowds but for me I think people's safety has to come first. If it's safest to do it with smaller, controlled crowds or no crowds at all then I'm happy for the health experts to advise. It's people's lives after all and football is only a sport.

I think it's such a fluid situation it's difficult to say "wait till October" because for all we know there could be a spike then. I also think it's going to be very tricky to find a single crowd solution while different parts of the country are in different levels of lockdown.

One point at a slight tangent - once again the FL appealed to the PL to look at the way money is filtered down and make it fairer and once again the PL failed to do so. I appreciate many lower league clubs are going to really struggle financially whatever happens and I hope (though I doubt it will) that the PL will understand that they both have a responsibility and that it benefits them (in providing new players etc) to have a healthy 92, not one where dozens of clubs go to the wall while the vastly rich remain vastly rich.

[Warren]

A discussion I had a few weeks ago with my friends considered clubs like Port Vale and Tranmere v Liverpool. So the mooted proposal is to get circa 15,000 back at Anfield to start with. Knowing that ground I think it is really hard to socially distance inside the stadium and probably only possible on the approaches if Liverpool are allowed to use Stanley Park and the main approach road is closed as inherently unsuitable. At Tranmere, they get 5-9,000 depending on how well they are doing. But have a 16,000 seat stadium including the Bebbington Cop which is a large stand behind one goal. The ground is next to two significant roads and a large car park. If away fans are not allowed and all four stands used for home support, there is a chance of a viable crowd set at say 5,000 being manageable. At Port Vale, the same principles apply, but Vale Park is less accessible than Prenton Park. I can't see where a queuing system could operate unless the park can be used. However, all of the above likely require more police and / or stewards. So does that work financially? Conclusion, probably not. But also, these matches mean visitors to the local area of the stadium which otherwise would not occur. On health grounds the locals have a good argument to object to going ahead. Overall, I think its all or nothing. It is safe to hold matches in full or not at all with crowds. 

[efsb]

According to this article in a German regional newspaper, they’re considering a delayed readmittance of fans - limited attendance and entrance only allowed by tickets bought in advance online (nothing on the day). They’re also suggesting no away fans and no alcohol sales - (article is in German) https://www.rheinpfalz.de/lokal/pfalz-ticker_artikel,-fan-rückkehr-in-stadien-kein-alkohol-und-keine-stehplätze-_arid,5094479.html