Plans for the return of football fans from October 1st are to be reviewed due to the rise in Covid-19 cases, prime minister Boris Johnson has announced.
Test events have taken place with a view to getting supporters back into football grounds and other venues in limited numbers from the start of October with the Blues keen to hold one of their own at either the League One match against Rochdale on Saturday 26th September or the EFL Trophy game against Gillingham on Tuesday 6th October.
But, at a Wednesday press conference on new Covid-19 restrictions in England, Johnson said the plans will be reassessed: "At the present time we must also I am afraid revise plans to pilot larger audiences in venues later this month and review our intention to return audiences to stadiums and conference centres from October 1st.
"But that doesn't mean we are going to scrap the programme entirely, we are just going to have to review it and abridge it and the Culture Secretary [Oliver Dowden] will say more about that shortly."
A delay will be a blow both to fans desperate to return to stadia to watch their teams in action and also to clubs currently deprived of gate income.