Brighton oppose English Premier League plan to use neutral venues

Brighton & Hove Albion are the first EPL club to publicly oppose plans to try to restart the season in neutral stadiums

The English Premier League trophy at Brighton’s American Express Stadium. Brighton have voiced their dissent to playing matches at neutral venues when the season restarts. Picture: AFP

Brighton & Hove Albion are the first English Premier League club to publicly oppose plans to try to restart the season in neutral stadiums during the coronavirus pandemic.

As the COVID-19 death toll in Britain surpassed 28,000, Brighton chief executive Paul Barber accepted that resuming sporting events would require compromises but said on Saturday that the league’s integrity would be damaged if teams couldn’t play at home.

West Ham vice-chair Karren Brady said “no one wants” neutral stadiums but was not as direct in her opposition to the league’s “Project Restart” plan, given the need for authorities to approve venues.

The Premier League sees using only up to half of the 20 stadiums as the most viable way of completing the season, which was suspended almost two months ago. Police have also backed teams not playing at home, even with no supporters present, to prevent fans from gathering outside the stadiums.

Supporters are likely to be prevented from attending sporting events for many months in Britain to limit the spread of COVID-19 infections. The Premier League, which held a conference call with all clubs on Friday, hopes team training sessions can resume within weeks – after isolated sessions at training grounds started last week at some clubs – but games are not likely to be played for at least another month.

“Clearly, we must all be prepared to accept some compromises and we fully appreciate why playing behind closed doors is very likely to be a necessary compromise to play our remaining games,” Barber said.

“But at this critical point in the season playing matches in neutral venues has, in our view, potential to have a material effect on the integrity of the competition.”

Barber said Brighton had not been approached about using their Amex Stadium, which is more isolated than the likes of Anfield, while West Ham also have a venue that fans can be kept away from as it sits on the Olympic Park used for the 2012 Games.

The government and Sports Grounds Safety Authority would have to approve the locations of games during the pandemic.

“They could argue neutral grounds better protect the welfare of all involved and reduce the burden on public services like police and ambulance,” Brady said. “But like everything else, nothing has been agreed.”

West Ham and Brighton are in a scrap to avoid relegation with nine games remaining.

AP