Finally, a piece of good news for the Premier League fans after the U.K Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced that all legal restrictions of social distancing would be removed in the fourth phase of reopening which means that the football stadiums will be allowed at full capacity from the 2021/22 season that starts from 13 August with the newly promoted Brentford hosting Arsenal.
PM Boris Johnson said, “We will move away from legal restrictions and allow people to make their own informed decisions about how to manage the virus.
“From step four we will remove all legal limits on the numbers meeting indoors and outdoors. We will allow all businesses to reopen, including nightclubs, we will lift the limit on named visitors to care homes and the numbers of people attending concerts, theatre, and sports events.”
While the news was quick to excite a frustrated Premier League fan base who were restricted at home for a very long time. The Premier League were quick to react to the Prime Minister’s statement made in a press conference on Monday.
“Fans have been hugely missed so we welcome today’s announcement by the Government, and are looking forward to full stadiums in the 2021-22 season.
“As we move towards a Government decision on Step 4 of the roadmap and beyond, we will continue to work with football stakeholders and relevant public authorities to ensure that the return to full capacity is done in a way that keeps everyone safe.”
While the last match that was played at full capacity in the Premier League was on 9 March 2020 that was hosted by Leicester City. The foxes managed to win the match easily scoring 4 past Aston Villa. But since then it has been very bad for the fans as well as the clubs out there. The clubs, especially the smaller ones, have taken a major financial hit after fans were restricted from entry to the stadiums. Much of the revenue for many clubs comes from the selling of match tickets. This is certainly welcome news for fans and the clubs.
The Premier League had already tried to experiment in the last two matches of the previous season allowing 25% of the stadium’s capacity or a maximum of 10,000 fans in the stadiums. The ongoing Euro 2020 tournament has seen a lot of crowds which brought back the same energy that Football matches always produce in front of their fans. The final that is to be played between England and Italy at the iconic Wembley Stadium on Sunday would be witnessing nearly 60,000 fans in the Stadium.
