The international break is slowly but surely starting to come to an end, and yet while we’re all excited to see Premier League football back on our TV screens, many of us would much prefer to be in the stadiums watching the action go down. Sure, the 20 teams that currently reside in the top flight probably aren’t going to be at risk of going under due to the COVID-19 pandemic, but that isn’t really the point.
The point is that we’re all starting to see some real hypocrisy from the UK government in regards to what people can do and what they can’t do. Some venues are permitted to allow spectators or guests back in but football, one of the most profitable forms of entertainment in the country, is still struggling to get over that line.
There are cities in the north that are going to be waiting even longer than they may have done before, too, with the likes of Liverpool, Manchester United and Manchester City all being parts of areas that have to go into stricter lockdown measures.
If we were going to put a blanket guess on it then we’d probably suggest the start of 2021 will be when we start to witness some movement, but we understand why so many folks feel as if that’s too far away. The football pyramid in this country is going to crumble if support packages aren’t introduced soon and even if they are, that’s no guarantee of a long term solution to the problem.
A lot of supporters don’t actually mind watching games without fans in attendance now if only because we’re used to the lack of noise, and because some enjoy hearing what the players and coaches are saying on the pitch and on the touchline. However, what we do all have a problem with is putting games behind a paywall when they’ve been available for free over the course of the last six months.
£14.95 is a criminal amount of money to ask fans to pay to watch their team, or to watch any other team for that matter. There are many paying for subscription services already and they should be permitted to view every game that fans aren’t able to attend. If not, then the entire structure of English football needs to have a serious shake-up.
Project Big Picture almost definitely isn’t the solution that we need at this moment in time but just starting that conversation is going to be important in these incredibly unprecedented times.
You can all still head on over to the betting page in the name of placing some money on games, but what you shouldn’t do is forget about the cause people are fighting for here. This isn’t about putting lives at risk – it’s about finding a safe way to bring some fans back through the turnstiles before we start to lose an obscene volume of clubs. The minimal numbers will be strange at first, but if the science backs it, then there’s no reason why it shouldn’t be considered.
