Return of the Blue Army put on hold
BIG BLOW AS CITY PREPARE FOR EUROPEAN ADVENTURE
NOT only has Leicester City fans’ wait to see their team in live Premier League action been prolonged, but hopes of watching their team in Europe have now suffered a setback too.
Plans to allow limited-capacity crowds at stadiums up and down the country from October have been paused amid a rising coronavirus infection rate.
Cabinet Office Minister Michael Gove said: “It’s in the nature of major sporting events that there’s a lot of mingling.
“People look back at the beginning of the pandemic and look at some of the major sporting events asking the question of why they were allowed to go ahead.
“One of the things we must do now, whatever the wisdom of the decisions made then, is to look at sporting events now with caution.”
That decision is a blow to all clubs, but is maybe more disheartening for City supporters compared to many Premier League sides because of the rarity of their campaign.
It is only the fifth time in the club’s history that they have competed in a European competition, and it may be the case that all of City’s Europa League group fixtures are now played behind closed doors, with the BBC suggesting the plan to bring fans back may be postponed until the new year.
City learn their Europa League opponents at the start of next month, and will play one home fixture in each of October, November, and December, with the club already outlining to fans the ballot system that would be in place for booking tickets to the games.
The Champions League campaign of 2016-17 brought many highlights for the club, with the atmosphere during those night fixtures among the best the King Power Stadium has experienced.
In a poll conducted by LeicestershireLive, City fans voted the home leg of the last-16 tie against Sevilla as the club’s greatest game of the last decade.
But there are now doubts over whether City will get to replicate such historic fixtures.
And it’s not just a case of City fans missing out on seeing their players – the squad are desperate to have 32,000 spectators cheering them on again.
Before Sunday’s game against Burnley, City’s first at home of the new season, Brendan Rodgers said on the absence of fans: “There’s no doubt we all miss supporters. We’re at a stage now as coaches and managers where you really do miss the supporters, certainly for the likes of ourselves, where the connection between our supporters and players is huge.”
City also miss out on the revenue that fixtures bring in. The most recent figures, from the 2018-19 season, showed City averaged an income of £660,000 per home game, the 12th highest figure of current Premier League clubs.
In a statement, the Premier League said they were disappointed by the government’s decision.
“The Premier League notes the Government’s announcement and while the health of the nation must remain everyone’s priority, we are disappointed that the safe return of supporters to matches has been postponed,” it read.
“Football is not the same without attending fans and the football economy is unsustainable without them.
“Last season, Premier League clubs suffered £700 million in losses and at present, our national game is losing more than £100 million per month. This is starting to have a devastating impact on clubs and their communities.”
■ Leicester Tigers’ Premiership match at Bristol next Wednesday, which was due to have been watched by up to 1,000 spectators as part of a pilot scheme, will now be played behind closed doors.