LIVERPOOL CLEARED FOR ANFIELD GLORY
THE government has appeared to pave the way to Liverpool securing the Premier League title on Merseyside by insisting that a decision on neutral venues lay with a local authority group based in the city.
Asked by Sportsmail if clubs like Liverpool should accept the six games national police chiefs have earmarked for neutral venues, Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, declared it was for the city’s obscure Safety Advisory Group, made up of councillors, police, football club representatives and public-health experts, to make the decision.
The prospect of the Liverpoolbased organisation deciding that the city’s population can’t be trusted to keep away from the Merseyside derby — and the Anfield fixture in which the league title might be claimed — does seem highly unlikely. But council sources insisted that the group, which usually comprises of at least 12 people and is chaired by deputy mayor Wendy Simon, a Labour councillor, would base a decision on rigorous analysis placed before it by health experts.
The prospects of the Merseyside derby being removed from the list of six games initially earmarked for a neutral venue were further enhanced when Dowden announced that the Goodison Park match would be released by
Sky Sports as a free-to-air fixture — as part of a strategy to prevent fans gathering at the stadium.
Sky Sports sources also indicated a willingness to make other high-profile games available free-to-air.
Project Restart received another huge boost last night when it was revealed that in the latest round of coronavirus testing there were no positive outcomes.
A total of 1,130 players and staff at the 20 Premier League clubs were tested.
It was the fourth round of tests and the first to produce a clean bill of health.