Mayor of London Sadiq Khan has voiced his concerns over the imminent return of the Premier League as the government begins to soften its lockdown guidelines amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Richard Masters, the chief executive of the Premier League, announced on Thursday that England’s top flight season is set to resume after a 100-day hiatus due to the coronavirus pandemic on June 17, subject to government approval.
All of the remaining 92 matches will be played behind closed doors without supporters, with matches played every day of the week and televised live across the BBC, Sky Sports, BT Sports and Amazon Prime.
In an exclusive interview with the Evening Standard earlier this month, Mayor Khan voiced his opposition to football returning to London in June, and following the League’s announcement on Thursday, Khan again called for caution ahead of the resumption of the 2019-20 Premier League campaign.
"I am concerned about any action that could inadvertently lead to the virus spreading," Khan told LBC.
"Let me make a confession. Even though I'm a south Londoner, I support Liverpool and that's why a small part of my brain is keen for us to return.
"But actually the bigger part of my brain is saying safety is what matters.
"We don't want to inadvertently, for the best of intentions - all of us need cheering up, there's nothing more joyous for sports fans than watching sport on TV, even without the crowds - but we need to make sure we don't inadvertently give an opportunity to the virus to spread.
"I know, human nature as it is, fans will turn up to see the coach arriving, to listen to the atmosphere - the players inside the stadium even though they're not allowed in, to see the coach leaving, to buy t-shirts and scarves, police and councils need to enforce the rules.
"The overwhelming measures to social distancing are still there, the overwhelming measures to lockdown are still there. The key thing has got to be what is safe.
"We can't have fans congregating around the stadiums. We don't want Premier League clubs in London to have fans congregating... we've got Tottenham vs Arsenal coming up. It's really important clubs work with police and others to make sure we get this right."
Masters and the Premier League, however, insisted that the ‘health and welfare of all participants and supporters’ is their priority.
In a statement, he said: "We have provisionally agreed to resume the Premier League on Wednesday 17 June.
"But this date cannot be confirmed until we have met all the safety requirements needed, as the health and welfare of all participants and supporters is our priority.
"Sadly, matches will have to take place without fans in stadiums, so we are pleased to have come up with a positive solution for supporters to be able to watch all the remaining 92 matches
"The Premier League and our clubs are proud to have incredibly passionate and loyal supporters. It is important to ensure as many people as possible can watch the matches at home.
"We will continue to work step-by-step and in consultation with all our stakeholders as we move towards resuming the 2019-20 season."
To date, the Premier League and its 20 member clubs have conducted 2,752 Covid-19 tests, with only 12 positive results.
