The Mayor of Liverpool, Joe Anderson, thinks plans to finish the Premier League season are “a non-starter” because fans would congregate at Anfield to celebrate Liverpool winning the title.
The Everton fan believes the season should be ended with Jurgen Klopp’s side given the title, but that seeing Liverpool win the title on the pitch – even away from home or at a neutral venue – would be too much for fans to resist.
Police have reportedly raised concerns that football matches returning behind closed doors would still result in fans ignoring social distancing guidelines to watch and celebrate in groups.
In March, a large group of Paris Saint-Germain fans congregated outside the Parc des Princes before and during their side’s Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund, celebrating with the squad after their 2-0 win.
“Even if it was behind closed doors, there would be many thousands of people who would turn up outside Anfield,” Anderson told BBC Sport. “There are not many people who would respect what we’re saying and stay away from the ground; a lot of people would go and celebrate, so I think it’s a non-starter.
“It’s possible that it could be played at a neutral venue but even then, I would guess that a lot of people would turn up outside Anfield to celebrate, and I can understand the police’s concerns around that even if it was at a neutral venue.
“There’s a real difficulty here for us and I think it would be really difficult for the police to keep people apart and maintain social distancing if they were going to celebrate outside Anfield. It would be absolutely farcical.”
Anderson thinks that even if fans were clearly advised to stay at home, it would be unlikely that all would follow instructions.
“Regrettably, I have to say that I think so [that warnings to stay at home would be ignored],” he said. “It has been difficult for us to try to stop people – and not just here in Liverpool, but elsewhere – gathering in parks when the weather has been good, congregating and meeting, especially young people.
“I fear that people would just simply ignore it. We see people now demanding the return to normality, well, it’s not normal!
“We’ve still got hundreds of people dying; we’ve had 300 scousers die in hospitals, we’ve got hundreds of people infected with coronavirus in hospitals. It’s not normal, and we shouldn’t act as if it is normal.”