Hatters boss Nathan Jones has called for “sensible progress” to save people’s livelihoods and allow fans to keep going to football matches as Luton faces the threat of being plunged into the strictest Tier 3 of Coronavirus restrictions.
The town is currently in Tier 2, which has meant some Hatters supporters have returned for two matches in the last fortnight.
A trial socially distanced run of welcoming back 1,000 fans went successfully at the start of the month, as Town beat Championship leaders Norwich 3-1. Then at the weekend, the number of supporters allowed inside Kenilworth Road doubled to the maximum 2,000 permitted by the government.
Those Hatters saw their team beat Preston North End 3-0 to mark Jones’ 200th game in charge with his 100th win.
But reports in national media have suggested Bedfordshire and neighbouring surrounding counties could join London in Tier 3 restrictions.
That would essentially be another local lockdown that would also shut down pubs, bars, restaurants and cafes, meaning those two recent Luton home games could be the last for a while with spectators.
“I’m very hopeful that that doesn’t happen because I’m not seeing the necessity of it,” said Jones.
“I’m not (Secretary of State for Health) Matt Hancock, but we’ve not got a vaccine. This is flu season, so they’re testing more people so there’ll be more Coronavirus cases, so I don’t think it’s running out of hand, but I don’t know.
“We had 2,000 fans inside the stadium, in terms of the social distancing and that’s not going to suddenly cause another spike, so I don’t know.
“There are a lot of things going on that we have to make sure that we do very well because we don’t want another spike. We don’t want people to lose their lives or to get the virus.
“But there are certain things now, where I think we’re in the midst of it. We have to learn to cope with it and just shutting everything down, I’m not sure that is the right thing do.”
Football fans were shut out of stadia back in March when the first wave of Coronavirus wreaked havoc across the UK, with the whole country placed into lockdown.
Once that was lifted, there were a select handful of test events in October, which didn’t result in a spike in positive Covid test. But rising cases in November led to another national lockdown and saw planned further fan return events scrapped.
But once lockdown was lifted earlier this month and the Tier system was introduced, it allowed clubs within Tier 1 and Tier 2 to welcome back up to 4,000 and 2,000 fans respectively.
But clubs in Tier 3, such as the Manchester giants have not been allowed fans into their home matches.
While football fans were shut out of stadia, pubs, restaurants and cinemas – though hit hard by restrictions – were just some of the places that had been allowed customers back, in indoor settings.
Considering football matches are played in the open air, where infection rates are reduced and social distancing measures are strictly enforced, there’s case to say that sporting events present no greater risk than going to hospitality businesses, shopping, or children going to schools and people commuting to work.
Asked if different thinking had to be employed to allow fans to continue to watch games, Jones said: “It’s a thankless job, setting the thing for a whole country to try to curtail a pandemic, it really, really is.
“But decisions have to be made for people’s livelihoods and a lot of people are losing their livelihoods because of this pandemic and because of lockdowns.
“Now, whether they’re entirely necessary, that’s the thing that’s up for debate. Or whether certain restrictions could be eased, allowing for sensible progress, in terms of going back to normal.
“Now, we can’t go from 0-100 (mph) in terms of normality, but certain things, lots people and clubs are running well. You see an adherence to the rules, then definitely.
“I’m sure London buses and tubes opening up, I’m sure there’s far more contamination on those than there is in a football ground.
“If you look at our football ground, we can socially distance quite comfortably, and some of the grounds, it’s even easier.
“So I think, one, we have to be careful that you don’t do things willy-nilly, but, secondly, I think we have to realise that people’s livelihoods are going under here and we can’t just allow it because we think it’s the best thing, because I’m not sure it is the best thing to do, at times.”
With fans back in Kenilworth Road for the first time in nine months, the Hatters ended Norwich’s two-month unbeaten run and despatched a Preston side with the best away record in the Championship.
Jones said: “We’ve had our two best performances and two biggest wins, so I don’t think there’s any coincidence.
“Our fans are massive for us, at this level when are establishing ourselves now, and especially our ground, because out ground is special.
“A lot of people speak ill of our ground, but it’s a special, special place when the atmosphere is right and we can generate massive noise with 1,000 or 2,000 there.
“That’s quite unique at this level because not a lot of clubs can do that. So, we’ve been delighted to allow fans back in.
“The fans have been immense since they came back and we’ve responded with those performances, but I’m sure it’s all been a knock-on effect of allowing them through the turnstiles.”
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