Sky Sports' Johnny Phillips: Premier fat cats need to look after the support act

After alighting the train at Peterborough station last Saturday lunchtime, the brisk 15-minute walk to the home of the city’s League One football club headed down Cowgate. The Drapers Arms on the corner was doing a healthy trade. Further down the road a couple of restaurants were similarly busy.

And so it continued. Across the square past St John The Baptist Church and right down Bridge Street. Every restaurant, cafe and retail shop open for business and serving customers.

At Charters Bar on the south bank of the River Nene a band was playing live in the huge beer garden. The music drifted across the air a couple of hundred yards further down London Road to Peterborough United’s home. And that’s where the crowds ended.

As we enter the final month of the government furlough scheme, and with the introduction of a job support programme in its place that does nothing for football, there are many clubs in the EFL who are reaching the point of no return.

They cannot stay in business. Throughout this whole pandemic there have been a number of confusing regulations, but with so much foot fall returning to city centre venues indoors, how have football fans not been allowed to attend outdoor events?

Peterborough’s Cinema De Lux staged 40 film screenings on that same day as their football team played Fleetwood Town behind closed doors.

There have, of course, been several test events, but these have now been put on hold. Again, it is hard to understand why. Social distancing in the stands is straight forward. Problems can arise around other areas of stadia, but these are not insurmountable. For example, large access gates can be opened and used as entry points as an alternative to turnstiles at certain venues.

I attended the Brighton test event last month that saw over 2,500 people successfully navigate one-way systems around concourses and kiosks.

Not all clubs are blessed with such spacious modern facilities, but that should not lead to a blanket ban on the return of supporters. Brighton, in this instance, complied with all safety requirements for social distancing. What more could they do?

Peterborough did not even apply to be one of last Saturday’s EFL test events because of a local spike. They knew their request would be turned down. Yet retail, restaurants and pubs around the ground remained open.

Owner Darragh MacAnthony suggested clubs and supporters had done what was asked of them but had not been given the chance to demonstrate that a return could work, when he spoke to Sky Sports.

“If the UK government want us to do this (lockdown) all again for a long period of time then it’s time for them to write a cheque, because clubs have got to look after themselves and the fans who have bought season tickets,” he said.

“We’ve been waiting for an EFL deal for five months now and it’s not coming. We’re not asking for a bail out, we’re asking for money we’ll pay back down the line.”

Can the Premier League step in and fill the void left by the government? There is an argument to say they should.

The Premier League was allowed to restart in June at a time when other events were not sanctioned. The clubs were able to avoid paying back millions of pounds in broadcast rights as a result.

Perhaps the millions more spent on summer transfers could have been better used to protect a football pyramid in this country that serves the Premier League well.

After all, last season’s Premier League title winners Liverpool fielded three players with EFL experience – Andy Robertson, Joe Gomez and Adam Lallana.

“This country has an unbelievable football infrastructure, the most depth in world football,” former Huddersfield and Lincoln manager Danny Cowley told our Soccer Special programme in midweek.

“I’m really worried for non-league clubs, not just Leagues One and Two. The FA, EFL and Premier League need to find a package to support these lower league clubs through this difficult period.”

This week, the Colchester United chairman Robbie Pens wrote an open letter to the Prime Minister highlighting that the livelihood of every sport across the UK is threatened.

His desperation jumped out from the page. He is right, it is not just football that is suffering. The arts and music sector has been neglected too. This cultural vandalism from those in power has happened before. Anybody who attended football matches in the 1980s will not need reminding of the contempt for the sport shown by the sitting government of that decade.

Many supporters turned away from the game back then as attendances dwindled. The longer fans are kept away from their clubs today the more likely it is they will lose their weekly habit; maybe not at the highest level, but certainly further down the ladder where paying supporters are needed the most.

Clubs are not asking for full stadiums, or even half of that. They just need the opportunity to show that they can be trusted to accommodate a partial return of their supporters.

As each day passes, it appears likelier we are heading for a second wave. In that event, further pleas will fall on deaf ears as restrictions are tightened.

The fear now is that, by the time clubs are given the green light to prove they can handle the return of supporters, it will be far too late.