Norwich City Football Club displayed a loud and clear message to the government over allowing supporters back into the stadium: “Let fans in”.
Backing a national campaign and petition, the club displayed #LetFansIn across the big screens, scoreboards and LED lighting displays at Carrow Road ahead of the club’s Championship fixture with Wycombe Wanderers.
The club is just one of a handful of Football League clubs that has welcomed fans into the grounds since the start of pandemic, following a widely-praised pilot event for 1,000 people in September – but these events have been put on ice as coronavirus cases rise.
But it is understood the club would be ready to welcome up to 8,000 into the stadium securely should the green light be given, with meticulous plans already in place to be executed.
Club majority shareholder Delia Smith has already spoken of her frustration at the plans being stalled, while the messages on the screens make the club’s stance clear.
Speaking at an event this week to unveil a raft of Covid-safe measures in the stadium’s catering department, she said: “We had 1,000 people in the stadium for the Preston game and have shown the government how we can do it and demonstrated how safely it can be done.“So many countries on Europe are allowing supporters into grounds – what more can we do?”
On Saturday, the club was able to allow 100 supporters to watch the match at Carrow Road – but inside the Gunn Club in the Barclay End of the stadium with a wall separating them from the action.
But speaking in July, UEA medical professor Paul Hunter warned that it would need very high levels of crowd management and planning to be done safely – though he added that the risk of infection was lower in open air.
As of Saturday evening, there were 642 cases of coronavirus in the county, with an infection rate of 70.7 cases per 10,000 people.
While the cases were on the rise, director of public health Louise Smith said they were “stabilising”.
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