The Premier League are ‘optimistic’ at this stage that they may be in a position next season to permit stadium entry to supporters who are preparing to watch the remainder of this campaign on the box. It means that fans of Aston Villa, who will not be granted entry to Villa Park for any of their coming home matches next month might be offered some light at the end of the tunnel. Plans were put in place this week that confirmed that all 92 remaining matches of the 2019-20 campaign will be broadcast live as the top flight prepares to resume behind closed doors due to Covid-19.
In truth, it’s impossible to know precisely when normality will return, to the scale of mass crowds being allowed into sporting venues, though the end of the year or even early into 2021 had already been predicted by experts. Premier League chief executive Richard Masters, though, is hopeful that fans might be back in place to cheer on their teams next term, with the idea of phasing the volume of supporters in attendance at one time being touted.
Richard Masters said: “No one knows when matches will move away from the behind closed doors model and obviously 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. We’ve got some incredible fans in this country and we all know the Premier League we know and love 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.”
