Nathan Jones is certain the football season will finish without a circuit-breaker after coronavirus testing protocols were ramped up this week – as long as players don’t flaunt the rules.
Luton had their match against Queens Park Rangers postponed last week after an Covid-19 outbreak, though he has said that is “not as sinister or as bad as it first looks“, eluding to players and staff having to isolate after family members tested positive.
But the EFL this week reinstalled mandatory testing twice a week for players and staff, with funding put up by the Professional Footballers’ Association and two tests this week have shown the Hatters’ first-team squad is Covid-free.
Enhanced protocols have also been introduced, which mean that Town players now arrive for training in their kit as the changing rooms and canteen at their Brache headquarters are closed.
Before Christmas there had been calls from Ipswich for a circuit-breaker and a number of managers and clubs have since joined that chorus after more than 40 games were postponed over the festive period.
At that time, Hatters boss Jones was not in favour of a break to try to stop rising cases and asked, ahead of Luton’s FA Cup third round clash with Reading on Saturday, whether he is confident the campaign will now continue, he said: “100 per cent. I just think you have to be diligent. One, you have to be diligent with you protocols within the club, enforce those and make sure they’re adhered too.
“Then, your players and humans have to be sensible outside of the football club and all across the country. If you do that then that’s the only way to beat it and get back to normal life. If people flaunt rules, in and out of the football club, in society, then that only has a knock-on effect.
“Look, we’ve had almost a year of being under real restrictions. If that isn’t a wake-up call for humanity, then nothing is.
“All I can do is advise our players to stick to those things (protocols). We do lots of work with that in terms of every time you go to the petrol station, fill it up, use gloves, limiting the amount of times you go there. Order online, all these things can help and that’s all you can do.
“But we’re very confident, that if players do stick to that, and not just our players but all across the country, then we will be able to quite comfortably finish the season, because that’s the goal.
“The big thing about it is, in March when it was lockdown, and when we came back, back in May, we were going into the unknown.
“We had no idea how it was spread and the knock-on effects, but we managed to finish the season.
“Yes, there is a more transmissible variant, but we have information now, we have protocols and a way of doing stuff, so I can’t see any reason why we’d need a circuit-breaker if we just adhere to things.”
