Government urged to allow return of fans (ed. Limited crowds to return in Tiers 1&2)

clive said:

SouthWest_Addicks said:

8 months in and we have zero idea when we are allowed back into stadium. No metric to follow, no targets. Just no supporters are not allowed back in. I would be absolutely shocked if anyone is allowed crowds into the stadium before next season at the very earliest. 

That is what some of the speakers wanted to know, a clear strategy & target date to get some fans back in stadiums as soon as possible, especially into lower/non-league grounds where people were allowed to attend until the present lockdown.

In highsight it was a bit of a piss take for clubs. Clubs were given a date of the 1st October to prepare for. Lots of time and money was spent on implementing their plans and this was scrapped at the last minute. I am pleased my Dad got to see us play against Doncaster, but what was the point of trial matches when zero data has been reviewed and assessed. 

An awful lot of reliance on the vaccine to allow this to go ahead. 

Otherwise this season needs to remain a write off for attending fans. 

SouthWest_Addicks said:

clive said:

SouthWest_Addicks said:

8 months in and we have zero idea when we are allowed back into stadium. No metric to follow, no targets. Just no supporters are not allowed back in. I would be absolutely shocked if anyone is allowed crowds into the stadium before next season at the very earliest. 

That is what some of the speakers wanted to know, a clear strategy & target date to get some fans back in stadiums as soon as possible, especially into lower/non-league grounds where people were allowed to attend until the present lockdown.

In highsight it was a bit of a piss take for clubs. Clubs were given a date of the 1st October to prepare for. Lots of time and money was spent on implementing their plans and this was scrapped at the last minute. I am pleased my Dad got to see us play against Doncaster, but what was the point of trial matches when zero data has been reviewed and assessed. 

You make a very good point. I went to the Donny game and filled in an on line questionnaire afterwards, that was all about how safe I had felt. I expect your Dad got the same. Thinking about it, I don't recollect if I was asked if I had subsequently experienced Covid 19 symptoms, which should have been the main metric.

Off_it said:

For those wanting a "target date", what date do you suggest? At the moment when infections, hospital admissions and deaths are rising what really is the point of someone saying "we have a target date of xx/xx/xx" when the situation is so fluid.  If you did that now all you would have is people spending money to prepare for that target only to be frustrated when it inevitably moves again.

We all love our football or else we wouldn't be on here, but in my mind any talk of returning or setting target dates is just ridiculous until this thing is under some sort of control.

I understand your logic but we are 8 months into it. At some point in time we are going to have proactively look to the future. If we get to March and we are unable to control the virus then we have failed completely. 

SouthWest_Addicks said:

Off_it said:

For those wanting a "target date", what date do you suggest? At the moment when infections, hospital admissions and deaths are rising what really is the point of someone saying "we have a target date of xx/xx/xx" when the situation is so fluid.  If you did that now all you would have is people spending money to prepare for that target only to be frustrated when it inevitably moves again.

We all love our football or else we wouldn't be on here, but in my mind any talk of returning or setting target dates is just ridiculous until this thing is under some sort of control.

I understand your logic but we are 8 months into it. At some point in time we are going to have proactively look to the future. If we get to March and we are unable to control the virus then we have failed completely. 

Why can’t we use the day when hospital admission reduces when we switch from winter illness to the warmer weather. 

The issue is that we could be having the exact same conversation in 1 years time. Why should football clubs be punished because the government cannot get their house in order. 

Football clubs are not being "punished" because the government cannot get their house in order, mass gathering such as football matches are banned because we are in the grips of a Worldwide Pandemic and Covid is spread from person to person very easily.

No spectators will be alowed in to Augusta this weekend for The Masters, I have just watched the hi-lights of the Moto GP and no spectators have been allowed into any of the tracks this season same as F1.

We are all very fortnate that live sport is taking place and we can still get our fix by watching it on the TV, it could be a lot worse.

All mass gatherings including sport, pantomimes, marches etc should be banned until normal life returns.    

Looks like up to 4000 fans will be allowed in to games after the latest lookdown is lifted, but dependent on what tier the area is placed in.

I think the latest locked down is to be lifted at midnight on 1st December, not sure the clubs would have the logistics in place for a game on the 2nd. 

SouthWest_Addicks said:

BBC sport says from the 3rd December, but plenty of newspapers are saying from the 2nd.

Only reason why this makes any difference is that Charlton play Franchise on the 2nd December.

I dont think it makes any difference no way any club gets it sorted in time for that week anyway, may be lucky for the weekend but even that is pushing it, getting everything u need in place all the spacing in the stadium, the tickets to the right people, it would take a while to arrange it properly 

Wow - wasnt expecting that. One second we are all saying no chance fans coming in this year, never mind in the middle of whats gonna be a long tough winter. Now fans before Christmas.

We aren't just easing out of lockdown. We are barrelling out of it.

DamoNorthStand said:

Wow - wasnt expecting that. One second we are all saying no chance fans coming in this year, never mind in the middle of whats gonna be a long tough winter. Now fans before Christmas.

We aren't just easing out of lockdown. We are barrelling out of it.

Howd you reckon that.
Those in tier 2 wont be able to go the pub.

Will be bedlam.
You could have a team in tier one 4000 fans allowed then on the Thursday go into tier 2 then need to reduce to 2000

DamoNorthStand said:

Wow - wasnt expecting that. One second we are all saying no chance fans coming in this year, never mind in the middle of whats gonna be a long tough winter. Now fans before Christmas.

We aren't just easing out of lockdown. We are barrelling out of it.

Wouldn't call allowing 4k fans in an area that is Tier 1 lockdown as "Barrelling out of it"

Got a laugh just come up tier 1 people  will be encouraged to minimize travel and work from home.

Dansk_Red said:

They may be able to use a rapid testing before matches. 

Given that hospitals are limited to the number of rapid tests that they are allocated per day, so they can test patients who are coming in for operations to make sure that they are covid negative, I really don't think that would be a good use of resources.