Season › 2020-21 › News Premier League could delay penultimate games to accommodate fans Thursday, 25 February, 2021 10comments | Jump to most recent The Premier League are considering playing the penultimate matches of the season in midweek to allow each club to have at least one match with fans inside their home ground before the end of the season. According to the Government's roadmap for reopening the country following the latest coronavirus "lockdown", up to 10,000 supporters will be allowed to attend elite sport events from 17th May. With just the final round of matches taking place after that date, there are concerns over "sporting integrity" and rather than bar fans from games on the last day of the season, The Athletic report that the Premier League could move the previous round of games back by a few days so that they fall after the 17th May cut-off. For Everton, that would mean 10,000 fans could be allowed in for the home fixture against Wolves on either Tuesday 18th May or Wednesday 19th May before closing out the campaign at Manchester City a few days later. Reader Comments (10) Note: the following content is not moderated or vetted by the site owners at the time of submission. Comments are the responsibility of the poster. Disclaimer Colin Challinor 1 Posted 25/02/2021 at 21:51:01 And good luck with that one. I think sides fighting for European places and sides fighting relegation will have something to say about it. The advantage it will give home sides for that last game, that has been denied to every other side all season could cost some teams a fortune, especially if you are on the wrong side of the ruling. Bobby Mallon 2 Posted 26/02/2021 at 09:08:02 Just finish the season then get fans back safely next season. Kim Vivian 3 Posted 26/02/2021 at 10:24:57 Correct me if I'm wrong but isn't the idea to let every team manage to have a home game with "open doors" as it were? Effectively, for example, allowing us to move our last home game back so that it is played after the relaxation date - possibly to the benefit of our own European aspirations.. I can't see how this is an unfair advantage to any team as long as every team gets the benefit.. Brent Stephens 4 Posted 26/02/2021 at 10:31:30 Colin, I might misunderstand this, but wouldn't this even things up by allowing the two final rounds of games of the season to have fans attending? All teams (?) would have one home and one away game during that final week? Stephen Brown 5 Posted 26/02/2021 at 11:00:02 Sounds fair to me! John McFarlane Snr 7 Posted 26/02/2021 at 16:42:30 Hi Bobby, [2] I'm with you, lets draw a veil over this season and resume when we can all attend in safety. I for one, will not enter a lottery, giving the chance to 10,000 of what I believe is a 30,000+ total of season ticket holders. For me it's a case of safety before money, but I suppose it's 'each to his own'. Colin Challinor 8 Posted 27/02/2021 at 14:23:23 Think your missing my point Brent. It's not just about having one home game and one away game each. After a gruelling season, who those games are against comes into it. Newcastle have to go to Fulham on the last day. I don't think their fans will be happy. The only fair system is, no fans until next season. Brian Wilkinson 9 Posted 28/02/2021 at 00:44:02 10,000 celebrating City fans, already on a high, singing their nuts off for a game that could be important to us for their last game, bad enough playing City with no fans in support, god help us if we need a draw final game.Makes sense to leave it until the new season, apart from the fa cup final of course. Don Alexander 10 Posted 28/02/2021 at 01:27:53 This infers we're dependant on the insight of BoJo, Wanksock, and Gove - he being the only one of them to have actually confessed criminal behaviour.Next season at best methinks, if those dipshits achieve any scintilla of credibility, at last. Jeff Armstrong 11 Posted 28/02/2021 at 08:33:43 The Government may well sanction this, but it will be the various leagues who will make the final decision (ignoring the fact we had 2000 fans that made a difference for a couple of big wins near Christmas). The fairest solution is no fans until next season. Add Your Comments In order to post a comment, you need to be logged in as a registered user of the site. » Log in now Or Sign up as a ToffeeWeb Member — it's free, takes just a few minutes and will allow you to post your comments on articles and Talking Points submissions across the site. About these ads