It's business as usual for now at Sunderland, as the Government currently meet to discuss their next steps over the spread of Coronavirus.
A report in the Times has suggested football matches in England will be ordered to be played behind closed doors imminently.
But with no official announcement of plans yet, Sunderland have this morning advertised their ticket sales for upcoming games next month away to AFC Wimbledon and home to Peterborough.
The number of coronavirus cases in the UK rose to 460 on Wednesday, representing the biggest single-day increase, and experts have warned the number will continue to rise.
Across Europe, action has already been taken that sees football matches being played behind closed doors and the Times reports that similar action in the Premier League and EFL could follow as early as today.
Sunderland travel to Blackpool on Saturday, but are then expected to have a three-week break from action anyway. Their game next weekend was due to be against Bury and therefore that weekend was free after Bury went into administration. The weekend after they are due to travel to Southend, but that game is looking increasingly likely to be postponed.
Conor McLaughlin, Tom Flanagan and Kyle Lafferty have been called up by Northern Ireland meaning Sunderland have met the three-player call-up threshold to be able to ask for a postponement, with Jon McLaughlin also expected to be called up to the Scotland squad.
A meeting of the government’s Cobra committee is expected to officially announce that the UK had moved from the ‘contain’ phase of their coronavirus action plan to the ‘delay’ phase, which could include social distancing measures.
As a result, football fans will be unable to attend matches for an unspecified amount of time, and matches will also not be shown in pubs to avoid a congregation of people.
Season-ticket holders and other ticket holders will be able to follow the matches via live streams in their home but the 3pm broadcasting blackout will not be lifted, although further coverage during the standard slots will be permitted.
The plan may be implemented once the amount of confirmed cases in the UK rises above 500 which, following the rise in cases over the past week, is expected to be surpassed in the latest figures on Thursday.
