‘It makes no sense’ – Leeds chief hits out at UK Government ahead of PL meeting tomorrow
Leeds United managing director Angus Kinnear has confirmed that the Premier League will hold a meeting tomorrow (Thursday) to finalise details of fans being able to return to matches.
A number of top-flight clubs in Tier 2 areas of England will be allowed to have 2,000 fans attend their stadium this weekend.
Leeds is unfortunately in Tier 3 so no Leeds fans will be allowed back in Elland Road for now but West Ham, Chelsea, Tottenham, Liverpool and Brighton will all be able to welcome fans inside their stadiums in the coming days.
In a Q&A with the Yorkshire Evening Post, Kinnear confirmed that a meeting is scheduled for Thursday but also hit out at the UK Government for only allowing Premier League clubs to host 2,000 fans in their huge stadiums.
He said: “I think they are frustratingly small, I don’t think they’re, to quote the government, based on the science.
“I don’t know what has changed in their position from saying we couldn’t have anybody to suddenly saying 2,000.
“It makes no sense that the capacities are not linked to the size of stadia and we haven’t had any clear or coherent rationale as to why you can have 4,000 at Accrington Stanley and 4,000 at Old Trafford, it makes no sense.
“The Premier League as a whole and all the clubs have made a collective decision that we want to take a step of getting supporters back, even in the smallest way possible. The step from no supporters to some supporters is the biggest one. Once we’ve got over that barrier we can start to move up in increments.”
It’s difficult to disagree with Kinnear.
On Wednesday night, Luton, Wycombe, Shrewsbury, Charlton, Cambridge and Carlisle will all be able to welcome 2,000 supporters inside their stadiums.
Charlton’s home at The Valley holds just over 27,000, meaning that 7.4 per cent of seats will have a supporter sat in them.
As for Cambridge’s Abbey Stadium, which has a capacity of around 8,000 and only 4,300 seats, 46 per cent of seats will be filled.
Elland Road is a bigger stadium than The Valley while the London Stadium, the 60,000-seater home of West Ham and set have fans attend this weekend, is even bigger.
It is nonsensical when you think about it.
The Government need to re-think this and the Premier League need to push for an attendance limit based on stadium size.
In other Leeds United news, Pontus Jansson sent a message to Andrea Radrizzani after the Whites announced a new commercial deal.