Huddersfield Town chairman Phil Hodgkinson has urged the government to be more transparent with their reasons for halting pilot events to allow football fans back into stadiums.
It was hoped supporters would be allowed back into grounds in October, with several pilot events planned to drip-feed people back into football. 1,000 supporters were allowed back into seven EFL grounds a fortnight ago with huge success.
However, after a rise in COVID-19 cases, the government has put an end to any suggestion fans could return with all pilot events put on hold indefinitely.
With EFL clubs, in particular, feeling the pinch of playing matches behind closed doors, their precarious financial forecasts leave the distinct possibility that clubs could go into administration.
With the path forward unclear for all of football, Huddersfield Town owner Hodgkinson has urged the government to work with clubs to create a plan for the future and the return of football supporters.
He told Talksport: “We’re in a situation that’s unprecedented but what’s happened is the government have just basically come out and said ‘no, we’re pulling back, no test events at sporting venues, no supporters in grounds’. It’s all been stopped.
“I haven’t seen anywhere that they’ve given a compelling reason as to why and I think that before we start talking about who bails who out and what needs to be done, the government need to come out and give us a compelling reason as to why they have stopped these test events and as to why they feel that outdoor, particularly sporting venues are unsafe.
“If the government aren’t prepared to come out and give specific reasons as to why they’ve made this decision then we’ve gone from a democracy to a dictatorship."
He added: “Give us some compelling evidence that what football clubs are doing cannot deal with that.
“There’s a really simple starting point for me on this: every venue, every sporting venue, every venue that holds any people for any event, have to be given a safety certificate, and that safety certificate is given to that venue and it’s signed off and they are allowed to have x number of people within that venue.
“Why aren’t the government and Public Health England speaking to football clubs and saying ‘what can you do to mitigate this and make this better?’, because at the end of the day this is every football club’s future and livelihood.
“They’ve got to be included and they’ve got to be given a chance to show they can manage this in a measured manner to reduce the potential impact.”
