The Premier League has taken the first steps towards allowing fans into matches.
As clubs rubber-stamped Project Restart and now prepare for next week’s opening round of fixtures behind closed doors, official discussions over the return of spectators are already under way.
Premier League officials, along with executives from other major sports, have met with Government and medical representatives to start exploring the feasibility of letting supporters back into grounds.
La Liga president Javier Tebas said he even hopes that stadiums will be ’10 or 15 percent’ occupied by the end of the Spanish season.
Considering the UK is behind Spain in the fight against the pandemic, that might not be a realistic target for the Premier League.
But even if fans do not get into Premier League grounds before the end of this campaign, the news that it is already being officially discussed lessens the prospect of the 2020/21 season being played behind closed doors.
The initial conversations also give the Football Association hope of having some sort of crowd for the FA Cup Final on August 1.
Allowing some spectators to return would be entirely dependent on Government permission and on the smooth restart of the Premier League.
The final, minutely detailed protocols were presented to the clubs and have been given full backing.
Players will have to present an electronic medical passport - which shows their Covid-19 test history - and be temperature-checked before being allowed into venues.
The no-spitting, no-nose clearing, no-handshaking, no hugging, no high-fiving guidelines have been reiterated to players, managers and backroom staff.
There will be drinks breaks in the middle of each half but players will have to have their own labelled bottles.
Getting to and from matches has formed a big part of protocol discussions and, for any journeys of significant distance, the Premier League is encouraging clubs to travel by plane.
Some clubs have already looked into chartering bigger planes for journeys and the Premier League has been in touch with airports to smooth through the passage of their teams in transit.
