Shrewsbury chief executive Brian Caldwell: Only play with fans in stadium
Shrewsbury Town chief executive Brian Caldwell has brushed off suggestions of playing games behind closed doors and called for the authorities to restart the season when it’s safe to do so.
The EFL initially suspended all fixtures until April 3, before extending that until April 30 due to the coronavirus pandemic.
It’s expected that the season could be further delayed, but with the EFL stating they are committed to finishing this campaign, several suggestions have been made about how to do that – including playing without fans, something Caldwell insists isn’t the answer.
“Everyone is keen to restart the season if and when it is safe to do so,” he said.
“When that happens is up in the air right now, we obviously won’t do any more games until it’s safe to do that.
“With playing behind closed doors, which I know was muted as one of the options, you still have to probably bring around 100 people with the two teams, referees and various personnel.
“You don’t know if one is infected, it could potentially spread through the teams and make things worse.
“Football needs to restart when the advice from government and health professionals say it’s ready to restart.”
Despite the situation being ‘up in the air’, Caldwell believes patience is vital to allow the governing bodies to come to the right solution.
“There’s a lot to consider and football is in a difficult position because of the hand to mouth way a lot of football clubs operate on,” he added.
“We just have to sit tight – they’re still talking about being a few weeks away from it hitting its peak and the insinuation is that we wouldn’t start until the virus is past its peak and on the downward curve.”
