EFL aiming to move games on December 1

THE English Football League will attempt to move its December 1 fixture schedule to a day later in order to take advantage of the decision to allow fans back into grounds.

On Monday Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that as of December 2 up to 4,000 supporters can attend matches depending on levels of Covid-19 in the area.

EFL chairman Rick Parry says the decision is a “lifeline” for lower-league clubs and will now try to move some of next Tuesday’s matches to Wednesday in order to get fans in as quickly as possible. That will include Plymouth

Argyle’s home clash with Rochdale in League One.

“We welcome the Prime Minister’s announcement because clearly we’ve been pushing for the return of fans for some considerable time,” Parry said.

“We have to build upon it because what we are really looking forward to is getting fans back in more substantial numbers but this is a really welcome start.

“At League One and League Two level it could be very significant. It’s not just the money it’s a very welcome return to an atmosphere, and if we get 4,000 at League Two level it would be very welcome. It can be a very welcome lifeline.”

“It’s great news for fans, they’ve been missing their football. All being well this is just the start.”

While some clubs will have to continue to play behind closed doors under the Government’s three-tier system, those in tiers one and two can allow fans in.

“We need the detail,” added Parry. “Clearly we have a number of games taking place on December 1, in theory we will be as flexible as we can if they can be moved to December 2. But we don’t know which clubs will be in which tier yet.

“We won’t know that until Thursday. We will need permissions from the safety advisory groups, we need to know this is done properly so it’s one step at a time.”