Coronavirus: ‘They’ve not got the green light’ – Government urge caution over Premier League plan

Oliver Dowden, the Culture Secretary, is set for further meetings with top-flight officials next week at which the option of playing games without fans is expected to top the agenda

Culture secretary Oliver Dowden has urged caution over the Premier League’s plans to play out the rest of the season behind closed doors.

Dowden is set for further meetings with top-flight officials next week at which the option of playing games without fans is expected to top the agenda.

But asked about the prospect, Dowden told BBC Radio 4: “They’ve not got the green light.

“If we can get a plan that works then I’d like us to be able to go ahead with it because I think it would be good for the nation, it would be good for football as a whole.

“I’m really hopeful we can get this up and running but public safety must come first so it’s only if we’re confident of that that we’ll be able to proceed.”

Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Constable Mark Roberts has told critics complaining about how the Premier League season is due to be completed to “get a grip”.

Clubs are understood to have been told the use of eight to 10 neutral venues is the only way the campaign can be finished in a way which satisfies the Government and emergency services amid the coronavirus pandemic.

That has drawn some criticism, with Brighton’s chief executive Paul Barber the most vocal so far, claiming the removal of the home-and-away element of the league would be “unfair”.

But with the death toll in the United Kingdom from the virus more than 30,000, Roberts – the national football policing lead officer – says other complaints pale into insignificance.

“There are comments that the integrity of the game may in some way be compromised if some teams have to play a game at a neutral venue, they played someone at home earlier in the season with a crowd and now they are being asked to play at a neutral venue with no crowd,” he said to ITV News.

“Fine, these are all in a football sense, really important.

“But in a broader context where the country has seen 30,000 and rising deaths then really some of the people making these comments need to get a grip because we have all got a responsibility to make progress for the benefit for the country, but equally to do it in a way that minimises the risk that anything we do adds to that death toll.” PA