Nottingham Forest are desperate to avoid another Championship shutdown or a return to playing behind closed doors amid a rise in coronavirus cases.
The number of games throughout the Premier League and English Football League already postponed for this weekend is well into double-figures as clubs deal with outbreaks.
As it stands the Reds have no positive cases in the first-team bubble, and Saturday’s clash at home to Hull City is due to go ahead as planned.
However, reports suggest the Premier League and EFL are coming under pressure to implement a fire-breaker over the festive period, which could impact Forest's Boxing Day trip to Middlesbrough.
The sport last shut down in March 2020, amid the first nationwide lockdown, and didn’t restart again until that June - with matches then being played in empty stadiums for the best part of 18 months.
Reds midfielder Jack Colback is keen not to see a repeat of either scenario as Steve Cooper’s side target a third win in a row against the Tigers.
“Obviously it gets spoken about, because you see it on the news every day,” he said of the current situation.
“It’s been with us for so long now. You kind of thought we were getting over it, then all of a sudden it’s back.
“Especially the position we’re in, doing well, you don’t want games cancelled.
“But as a club, and as players, we just have to be responsible. We’re doing the right things at the training ground, in terms of social distancing and things like that.
“And as players, you’ve got to go home from training and do things right, maybe not go out for food as much as you might have; try to limit the chances of that happening.
“You’ve got to be sensible and realistic. You look at the case numbers and the reports from other teams.
“When it first came about, I remember one player got it and it was a big shock, now it’s going through half the teams. It just makes it real.
“We want to be able to keep pushing and keep playing games. If that means we’ve got to stay in a bit more until it dies down, then as players we’ll certainly be doing that.”
Forest supporters went from March 6 2020 until August 11 2021 without being able to watch their team live at the City Ground.
During that time, the Reds saw their play-off hopes collapse and then endure a miserable 2020/21 campaign spent towards the bottom end of the Championship table.
“For us, playing behind closed doors would be the worst thing. The players have mentioned it, how difficult it was last season - just a flat, empty stadium,” said Colback.
“For where we want to get to, and what we want to do this season, our fans will have a massive impact on that.
“Fingers crossed it doesn’t get to that. Hopefully it settles down for everyone, not just on the football side, but life in general, really.
“When you’re doing well, you want to carry on.
“We had it with the international break - we were doing well, then you have a break and it feels like you haven’t played for ages after two weeks.
“We can’t control so much of it, but what we can control is our club and the facilities here. We’re certainly doing the right things, because we want to be playing games and keeping fans in stadiums.”
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