Doncaster Rovers ready to put on safe event for fans, says Gavin Baldwin

The ‘Let Fans In’ petition – which has attracted nearly 200,000 signatures and is calling for the return of fans to professional football games – was debated in Parliament on Monday.

Fans have been absent from stadiums across the Football League since March due to Covid-19. The pandemic is crippling lower-division clubs and has the potential to bring many to their knees, more especially if a Government-led rescue package to prop up stricken clubs does not arrive soon.

A well-run club, Doncaster are coping admirably in the circumstances, but it is tough.

On what the Government can do to help Rovers and scores of other clubs, Baldwin told The Yorkshire Post: “Our plea is to look at PAYE, a rescue package and crowds coming back. They are the three asks, basically.

“It just feels that unless the Government step in soon, it might be a straw that breaks a lot of camels’ backs across the country (at clubs).

“We hope that the (crowd) pilot games are allowed to come back as soon as possible. We are aware of the national picture and even with it, we believe we can put on a very safe event.

“Talking to my peers, there are clubs struggling to pay wages this month. I am aware of clubs who are seeking support. If they aren’t paying wages, they aren’t paying the Government PAYE and are building up debts externally.

“So if they get through this month, next month will be harder. Those are real conversations I am having with other clubs at the moment and it is dominating every conversation.”

The absence of spectators in match-day revenue has already cost Rovers £200,000 in lost revenue and if there are no supporters at games in 2020-21, it will rise to £600,000.

Factor in potential season-ticket refunds, drops in commercial custom and support sponsorship and it becomes a huge problem.

Baldwin commented: “This year, by hook or by crook, we should get through to the end of the season.

“It is next season which will cause a real problem as we might be trying to sell season tickets to holders who have not watched a game, boxes to people who have not watched a game and that is where the liabilities are building up.

“Our commercial customers and fans who have bought boxes and paid for sponsorship is worth seven figures and they have not watched football this season.

“How do we go to them again and say: ‘Please can you show the same generosity that you have done so far?’ It is not an easy ask. At that point, the business model would crumble.

“What makes it difficult at the moment is the constant uncertainty. Where we do feel slightly hard done by as a sector is that you see others getting support and we are not.

“Not only are we not getting support, we are being told we cannot do things such as having crowds and equally, we are (currently) told we are not going to have support when we have no crowds. I believe there was a statistic across the EFL last year that owners put nearly £500m in and this year will be the same, despite player wages being reduced significantly. It is the owners who are stepping in, but how many owners can afford to step in when their own businesses will probably be struggling. I’m not sure the Government realise what clubs do in communities and what we’d be missing when and if some clubs start to go.”

Alongside obvious financial aspects, the absence of spectators from stadiums is having a huge psychological impact upon those who are involved in football and those who support it.

It is why, on so many levels, that a return of fans to stadiums is so important, allied to the fact that so many clubs have invested so much time and valuable resource into making their facilities as safe as possible amid Covid-19.

Baldwin added: “In my opinion, the fans would be so grateful to come to a game of football that they would stick to any rules. We have a supporters’ board and they have basically said: ‘Tell us the rules and we will abide by them. We just want to come and watch football again’.

“Where we feel hard done by is that we believe coming to Doncaster Rovers is a safe experience. Even out of Covid, the audits for football clubs to make stadiums safe are very strict.

“Under Covid, the Football League and the safety authorities have worked with us to make sure that being outdoors in a football stadium is one of the safest places you can be. The pilots were running and we worked very closely with various clubs. Allowing 1,000 people to come in – we potentially were hoping for just under 4,000 – would change our world as we could say thank you to season-ticket holders and commercial fans.

“We don’t understand how you can come to the Royal Albert Hall, but not Doncaster Rovers.”

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