Premier League chief Richard Masters ‘optimistic’ that fans will be able to attend games in ‘phases’ next season
Premier League chief executive Richard Masters is hopeful that fans will be able to attend grounds in ‘phases’ next season.
The coronavirus pandemic has wreaked havoc on the sporting world, but on Thursday plans were set out for the English top flight to return on June 17, with the weekend of August 1 pencilled in as the finish date.
Richard Masters remains hopeful that fans will be able to attend games in the 2020/21 Premier League season
On Friday, the top flight confirmed there was a ‘contingency’ plan for games to take place at neutral venues for the remainder of the 2019/20 campaign.
However, Masters is optimistic that fans will be able to attend matches next season, admitting football will not be ‘fully back’ until that happens.
He told Sky Sports: “No one knows when matches will move away from the behind-closed-doors model and it is right to have contingency plans in place.
“But there is optimism at the Premier League and at clubs that we will see fans back in the stadiums next season and it may happen on a phased basis.
“Hopefully it will be a huge morale boost and that is what we’ve been working towards.
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“We’ve got some incredible fans in this country and we all know the Premier League as we know and love it won’t be fully back until we have fans back through the turnstiles.
“Getting it back on our TV screens for people to enjoy will hopefully give the whole country a boost.”
Masters added in his interview with Sky Sports News: “We have put a new staging post in the ground to start on June 17 but to get there we have got to go through a lot of hard work and more consultation to get our stage three protocols agreed.
“There is still a lot of work to be done before we can kick-off.
“The talks were intense.
“Yesterday, to put a new staging post in the ground wasn’t a vote but it was supported by everybody.”
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Meanwhile, Brighton chief executive Paul Barber, one of the main opponents of neutral venues, said he expected all his side’s matches would be played on a home-and-away basis.
“Obviously the majority of home games we expect to be at home for everybody,” he said.
“And I understand there are some small number of games where the police do need to look more carefully at the operations for those games.
“But we don’t know which games they are, we haven’t been given that information so, as far as we’re aware of this side, it doesn’t affect our club.
“But obviously we’re delighted that the police and the Government and the Premier League have found a way for the majority of games to be played at everyone’s home stadiums.”
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