Stuart Rayner - Yorkshire football fans set for tier-three frustration

Monday’s headline football news was that 4,000 fans will be allowed back into grounds when England emerges from its second coronavirus lockdown next Wednesday. It was – is – great news but as ever, terms and conditions apply. That is the figure only for grounds in tier one areas with capacities of 8,000 or more (grounds cannot be more than half-full). Those in tier two can have only 2,000, and fans in tier three will continue to be locked out.

Only a handful of nationwide clubs are expected to be in tier one, and given how much of this county was in tier three before this lockdown, it would be a surprise if much of the north escaped tier three, at least initially.

It can argue all it likes about the reality, but two of the damaging perceptions about this Government is it is ambivalent about doing anything meaningful to address the north-south divide and it has a preference for “posh sports” which makes it anti-football. In politics, perception is the real clincher and Barnsley, Bradford City, Doncaster Rovers, Harrogate Town, Huddersfield Town, Hull City, Leeds United, Middlesbrough, Rotherham United, Sheffield United and Sheffield Wednesday sit smack in the middle of that painful venn diagram.

The Government has another chance to do something about it this week but given how lukewarm it has been so far, do not hold your breath.

The announcement of which cities and towns fall into which tiers will only increase the feeling that many football clubs are part of the left behind.

With its absolute refusal to step in with financial help for eight months whilst rushing to the aid of others – we football fans will not quickly forget the packed-together audiences at the Royal Albert Hall or the exemption grouse shooting and hunting had from the “rule of six” – this appears to be the most anti-football Government since the hooligan-scarred Thatcherite days of ID cards and the rest.

Boris Johnson’s Government cannot be accused of anything like that – if anything, their refusal to allow supporters in is being over- not under-protective of fans – but the game of brinkmanship they are playing with the Premier League is putting the future of football clubs, valuable institutions and charitable champions in many left-behind communities, at risk.

In essence, both parties think it is the other’s responsibility to look after the lower-league clubs who like so many other businesses cannot make ends meet without their biggest source of revenue – gate receipts. The Government belatedly stepped in to help non-league football (and thank goodness it did) but no more. You can see both side’s viewpoint.

The Premier League will ask why it should shoulder the burden when the Government is coming to the rescue of so many other sports, entertainment and cultural bodies.

The Government argues clubs who spent more than £1bn of the estimated £2.5bn spent in transfer fees in Europe’s top leagues this summer can afford to help their brethren out.

The problem is, they have not followed through on that argument. They allowed the Premier League (and Championship) to play during the summer, minimising the damage to its lucrative television deals on the proviso some of the money trickled down the pyramid. So the Premier League did play on. It did not trickle the money down in a rescue package – only advancing payments already owed – and this Government let it.

The Government would have been quite within its rights to stop the Premier League playing during the second lockdown until it came to an agreeable arrangement of a rescue package which is now being discussed but still seems far from being agreed.

So having failed to make them act, it has to step in itself. If it really does believe what the science is telling it that socially-distanced football fans cannot safely attend matches in tier three areas, then to come up with funds to help the lower-league clubs whose fans will be locked out beyond December 2 is the least it could do. Sadly, when it comes to football, the least it could do seems to be its preferred course of action.

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