Nathan Jones has called for “clarity” on why people can pack planes and buses, but football fans can’t socially distance inside stadia, amid the government’s latest plan to get supporters back in grounds by Christmas.
Luton’s have not been inside Kenilworth Road since February just before the pandemic struck and hopes of a trial return was dashed in September, due to the EFL not affording the club enough time to prepare.
While the whole country is currently in lockdown until December 3, last week the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Oliver Dowden suggested fans could return to grounds, but only in parts of the country with low rates of Covid-19.
That would suggest the Hatters won’t be first on the list for fans returning as, just before this month-long lockdown, Luton was placed into Tier 2, having previously been placed into a local lockdown in July as cases rose.
A government announcement is expected this week about what happens from December 3 onwards, though it’s expected that there will be a return to the tier system.
But with the ministers finally keen to address the situation, Jones was asked how hopeful he is that supporters can return to Kenilworth Road, and said: “I’m very hopeful, especially this season, but sooner rather than later because football needs it.
“One, you need everything to be safe, so we can move forward with this, but there needs to be clarity.
“For me, I don’t see how you can go on a plane, in close proximity to 300 people, for example, or on a bus with 50-60 (people), but you can’t come into a stadium where you could be 10-15 feet from the nearest fan.
“So, there needs to be just a little bit of clarity on certain things, but there’s no point in putting a blanket on everything, otherwise nothing will ever recover.
“I do understand it’s a tricky situation, but we really do hope that, sooner or later, we get fans back in, but at a sensible rate, because you can’t just say, ‘fill the stadium’.
“But, little by little, safe distancing, knowing that the clubs adhere to that and then anyone that breaks that or doesn’t impose ten sanctions then they could be excluded.
“Our chief exec (Gary Sweet) mentioned something, that the pandemic hasn’t got a second wave, it’s human behaviour that causes separate waves. The pandemic is there. The disease, Coronavirus, is there. It doesn’t go away, it’s just there. It’s just human behaviour that causes that.
“(If) human behaviour can be trusted, and can be sensible, then we can all move forward, but when certain individuals don’t do that and cause second waves and spikes, then that’s when the government has to interject.”
