Football matches in England will be ordered to be played behind closed doors imminently, reports have stated - which could affect Nottingham Forest’s visit to Sheffield Wednesday this weekend.
This would mean that Reds fans now look to be unable to attend crucial matches in the final months of the season, as they battle to secure promotion to the Premier League.
Sabri Lamouchi’s side are currently in fifth place in the Sky Bet Championship table, and have nine league fixtures remaining in the campaign.
Forest are due to welcome Huddersfield Town, Bristol City, Fulham, Swansea and Stoke to the City Ground before the end of the season, and are set to face Wednesday at Hillsborough this weekend.
The City Ground has been packed with supporters throughout the season but, heading into the business end of the campaign, now looks set to be empty.
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.
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.
This comes after Reds owner Evangelos Marinakis was recently diagnosed with the illness formally known as COVID-19, although all members of the Reds staff and playing squad have tested negative for the virus.
