Luton’s Championship clash at home to Queens Park Rangers tomorrow has been postponed after several players, staff and their families tested positive for coronavirus.
Other players and staff who have come into close contact must now also isolate and further tests will not be completed by the 3pm kick-off tomorrow.
The postponement is the second in tomorrow’s Championship fixtures after after Bristol City players developed Covid-19 symptoms. Town beat the Robins 2-1 on Boxing Day.
A Luton Town statement read, ‘the league has agreed to postpone the fixture based on our own recommendation and the league’s medical advice.
‘The game will be rearranged to be played as soon as possible, details of which will be communicated to supporters in due course.
‘All positive cases involving players and staff will observe a period of self-isolation in accordance with EFL and the government’s protocols, and The Brache training ground will close while the rest of the squad and staff bubble undergo official EFL testing.
‘The health and safety of all at the club and the wider community is paramount, and although we can report that none of those testing positive have a serious illness at this stage, we wish those players, staff and family members affected a speedy recovery as we do all we can to stop the spread of the virus.’
It’s not the first time a Town player has tested positive after top scorer James Collins had to self-isolate back in October, but it is the club’s first postponement.
It was something manager Nathan Jones had been hoping would not happen, and before Christmas he said he was not in favour of a ‘circuit breaker’ proposed by Ipswich, after cases began to soar across the south-east of England, due to a new strain of the virus.
QPR boss Mark Warburton, however, has called for a pause, telling West London Sport today: “We’re trying to fit an ordinary season into an extraordinary year. You’re seeing games called off at the very highest level at short notice now.
“I fear, looking at the numbers – 55,000 new infections and nigh-on a thousand deaths now in a 24-hour period – we are facing the crunch time.
“Do we have a circuit breaker? My belief is yes. That’s just my opinion. Would it have ramifications for the football programme? Absolutely. We’d have to adapt.
“But above all else the health and welfare of everyone has to be of paramount importance.”
The postponement comes 24 hours after the EFL issued all clubs new guidance on how to contain the virus, including further restrictions on training grounds, with changing rooms closed off and players asked to come to training in their kit.
But after today’s positive tests, a statement from the EFL read: ‘Luton Town in formed the EFL that they would be unable to fulfil the fixture following several positive Covid-19 tests and the requirement for players and staff to self-isolate as per EFL and Government guidance in order to mitigate against the risk of further infection.
‘The circumstances surround the postponement will now be the subject of an investigation in accordance with the EFL Regulations.’
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