Government officials 'working urgently' to provide support as Sunderland and League One rivals handed supporter return blow
Sunderland supporters will see their return to the Stadium of Light delayed – with the government having put the brakes on plans to return spectators to sporting events.
The Black Cats have played all their games during the 2020/21 season behind closed doors, with only a limited number of club officials and press allowed to attend fixtures.
But after a number of successful fan pilots last weekend – which saw up to 1,000 fans attend seven EFL fixtures – there were hopes that fans could soon return in a phased approach.
Indeed, the government themselves had set a target date of October 1 for the return of spectators to sporting events.
However, that date has now been postponed with numerous national reports suggesting that the government are set to tell clubs that fans will not be allowed to attend elite sporting fixtures next month.
In addition, no further pilot events will be held, at a time where the number of coronavirus cases is rising rapidly.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson confirmed the news in a briefing to MPs this afternoon, while also claiming that the government were ‘working urgently’ to support clubs affected by this delay.
“We will not be able to do this [reopen stadiums] from 1st October,” he said.
“I recognise how this affects sport clubs and the Chancellor and Culture Secretary are working urgently on what we can do to support them.”
Sunderland AFC had already taken a number of steps to ensure they would be ready to welcome supporters in a COVID-secure way – including asking fans to register bubbles and liaising with supporter groups over a safe return.
But these plans will have to be temporarily shelved, with government minister Michael Gove confirming the plans have been ‘paused’.
He told BBC Breakfast: “It was the case that we were looking at a staged programme of more people returning, it wasn't going to be the case that we were going to have stadiums thronged with fans.
“We're looking at how we can for the moment pause that programme.
"But what we do want to do is to make sure is that as and when circumstances allow get more people back.
"We have to look at sporting events with caution."