Most liked posts in thread: Fans Back At VP - A Plan

The trouble is the great British Public! Schools can control kids leaving assembly, but the ‘culture’ of spectators leaving football grounds is hectic/frantic/ slightly chaotic.

A small but significant number (say 10%) actually go before the final whistle.

People ‘move up’ to empty seats nearer the exit.

The evidence in supermarkets is that there are several types of shoppers.

• Those who comply with the 2 metre rule.
• Couples who insist on walking down the aisle together.
• Those who are not able to intellectualise the situation and/or are not aware.
• People who just ‘switch off’ and wander round in a daze.
• Some who have masks on and as such feel that they don’t need to comply with the advice.
• Those who think they are immune and don’t realise they could transmit to friends/family.
• Those who are aggressive and are out to defy everything.

My thoughts are that a football crowd is highly likely to behave in a very similar pattern. Schools have very different relationships, where pupils and staff know each other and with established patterns of behaviour, social mores and routines are in place.

I was out yesterday and could observe people on trams. I didn’t travel on one, but could see that several people were not wearing masks!

The pessimist in me, thinks a significant number, would not comply with reasonable rules.

You also have the scenario of half time, the toilets and people wanting or needing to leave their seat during the game and as such disturbing a whole row.

It would have to be more than guidelines and uniform systems would have to be in place. For all the reasons I have outlined, I think it will be very difficult.

 

Another interesting one from League Two Stevenage who have announced that, whilst there is a restricted capacity, priority will be given to those season ticket holders who did not claim a refund on their 2019/20 season tickets.

 

Seems to be the Club's estimate, based on the latest advice.

Whilst the national guidance is the same for each club, it will come down to how well each club can accommodate the advice/rules and also to how each Safety Advisory Group interprets that advice/rules. Most clubs seem to be suggesting between 15% and 35% of capacity. Whether they are overly cautious, right or wildly optimistic, only time will tell.

Whatever initial capacity is set for Valley Parade, it probably makes no difference to me; at the moment I'm still waiting on that vaccine, and not the russian one (well, unless it's vodka).

 

It's been clear from the start of this period that the PL will look primarily after the interests of its own. They have ignored the requests from DMCS to take a wider view and provide help to the football sector more generally. I understand that it will be slightly tougher after Sky played hard ball with them over the TV contract and then they had the problems with the Chinese TV contract. But a relatively small amount of cash such as the saving on Fulham's parachute payment would go a long way to helping the EFL clubs. I'm still of the view that they will provide some financial assistance at some point but will extract some important concessions from the EFL in return. I wouldn't bet against the introduction of a small number of Under 23 teams into the pyramid as happens in Spain and now in the EFL Trophy. The EFL might well have to accept something like that for their long term benefit.