Birmingham City confirmed late on Boxing Day that their home fixture against Peterborough United on Wednesday December 29 has been postponed due to the short turn around for players to return from isolation or recover from injury. This means that Blues will have two fixtures now to rearrange into what is already a fairly tight calendar.
On Wednesday national coronavirus restrictions came to an end in England, with the country returning to a tiered system. With the government allowing limited numbers of spectators to attend PL and EFL matches at stadiums within Tier 1 and Tier 2, football clubs are now quickly working to get supporters back in the ground. While St Andrew’s remains in Tier 3, there is a question of how this will affect Blues when Birmingham moves into a lower state of alert.
Plans to allow limited numbers of fans back into stadiums were put on hold on Tuesday as the Government tightened restrictions to prevent the transmission of coronavirus in England. This has dealt a hammer blow to clubs already suffering financially from the lack of gate revenue and adds more worry to fans concerned with how their clubs will cope.
The EFL confirmed on Sunday that the Championship will restart on June 20 after a three month break due to the outbreak of coronavirus. The restart is provisional and is subject to the strict proviso that all safety requirements and government guidance is met.
Lockdown has entered its seventh week in the UK and the football authorities are still no nearer in working out how to complete the 2019/2020 season. As a consequence, football clubs are facing harder and harder decisions regarding how to sort out their finances, with some having to resort to using the government’s furlough scheme.
Football as we know it has come to a standstill. All league football in England has been suspended until April 4 due to the current outbreak of coronavirus (COVID-19). The disruption to society is unprecedented in modern times – what does it mean for Birmingham City?
