Albion have welcomed a decision to play on over Christmas – and backed fans to play their part. Premier League clubs voted NOT to postpone any of the forthcoming fixtures, despite rising concerns over Covid and the workload being placed on players. Albion chief executive and deputy chairman Paul Barber said player welfare was paramount as discussions took place.
Paul Barber said: “It’s a difficult balancing act. There are lots of Covid cases across the Premier League but, at the same time, we have fixture congestion already building up. The danger of postponing games when we don’t need to is the fixture congestion goes later into the season, which could be even worsen. In terms of player welfare, balancing what’s right at this moment with what could be right in the future was one of the difficult parts of the debate. I’m happy we have decided the right thing, which is to carry on playing while we can, look after our players and staff as best we can and try to minimise the disruption to supporters as well.”
A return to football behind closed doors was discussed – and has now happened in Wales. But Barber backed fans to protect themselves and others with their behaviour when at games and travelling to and from venues.
Paul Barber added: “I think everyone was slightly fearful of that because cases are rising and we have seen what has happened in Wales. I think the difference between this situation and what we were facing last time when we were behind closed doors is vaccinations have really taken hold. Lots of people have been vaccinated. People are much more aware of the virus. They are careful when they are travelling to and from the games. They are careful when they are in the stadiums. It’s difficult to enforce mask-wearing in the stadium bowl but we are encouraging it. Hopefully people will be respectful of each other and keep each other safe so we can keep stadiums full. That’s really important. Lots of livelihoods depend on matches going ahead with fans in the stadium and that’s what players want as well.”
