Everton and Liverpool fans hopes of returning to matches again soon could be dashed after Boris Johnson announced a U-turn on spectators returning to sport over coronavirus spike fears.
The Prime Minister has decided that fans will not be allowed to attend sporting pilot events, following a spike in coronavirus cases despite initially planning for tests to take place from tomorrow (August 1).
A crowd trial of 5,000 people at Goodwood races has been abandoned at the last minute and the seven-race card will now take place behind closed doors.
A two-day county cricket friendly between Surrey and Middlesex took place with spectators in attendance earlier this week, but it appears that for the time being that will be as far as it goes in a tightening of restrictions to limit the spread of coronavirus.
Spectators were due to watch the first two days of two county cricket matches while fans were at the World Snooker Championship when it started on Friday.
The announcement comes after general restrictions were reintroduced for people in some parts of northern England, but not as yet Merseyside.
Mr Johnson said: “Pilots of larger crowds at sports venues will not take place," Johnson said at a news conference on Friday.
“I said from May we would not hesitate to put on the brakes at the slightest sign that the numbers were going in the wrong direction.”
The new restrictions on fans will be enforced until at least August 15 while the 2020/21 Premier League season is due to kick-off on the weekend of September 12.
Although capacity crowds at the likes of Anfield and Goodison Park along with the other 18 English top-flight stadia still appear a long way off, it is hoped that some spectators might be allowed back into matches unlike all of the remaining fixtures of the interrupted 2019/20 season which resumed in June after a three-month coronavirus-induced hiatus.
