Sheffield United game against Queens Park Rangers postponed due to Covid-19

QPR, fifth in the Championship, informed the Football League they would be unable to fulfill the fixture and there were will now be the usual league investigation into the circumstances.

The game was due to be played at the start of a week when the league is ramping up its coronavirus protocols in light of more stringent Government measures.

Guidance on travelling to games and training has been tightened, with clubs encouraged to group players together on the team bus according to their vaccination status or virus history, and car-sharing discouraged. The league does not want its players sharing hotel rooms, meal times are to be staggered and team meetings and treatment sessions must be shorter, with greater mask-wearing indoors.

The league has even told its clubs to try to avoid goalkeepers training together to stop them losing all their specialists at one, and wherever possible to keep at "arm's length" in training.

Clubs have also been advised not to hold Christmas parties, in contradiction of Prime Minister Boris Johnson's advice on Monday, but in keeping with the advice from Dr Jenny Harries, the chief executive of the UK Health Security Agency.

There will also be greater controls on spectators, who will be required to show "Covid-19 passports" to get into games with crowds of more than 10,000, and to wear masks beneath the stands from Wednesday.

The first high-profile effects of the Omincrom variant of the virus came at Tottenham Hotspur, who postponed their Europa Conference League game against Rennes and their Premier League match against Brighton and Hove Albion because of it. Spurs could potentially be thrown out of Europe's least prestigious continental club competition as a result because they have been unable to find a date to replay the game before UEFA's December 31 deadline.

Sheffield United' s game is the first involving one of Yorkshire's league club to fall foul of the latest strain of the virus, although Harrogate Town were thrown out of this season's League Cup when they were unable to play a first-round tie against Rochdale because of sickness in their camp. League Two matches against Crawley Town and Leyton Orient also had to be postponed.

The Blades were due to go into the game on the back of three straight victories, knowing a fourth would put them eighth in the Championship three points outside the play-off places despite a start to the campaign difficult enough to have cost manager Slavisa Jokanovic his job.

Their next game will now beat at Fulham, in another match due for live Monday night television coverage.

A new date for the game against QPR will have to be set, but it will almost certainly not now be until next year.