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Gillingham Game Postponed
Wednesday, 22nd Dec 2021 17:05

Town’s game at Gillingham scheduled for Boxing Day has been postponed at the request of the Gills due to the number of Covid cases in their squad and rescheduled for the start of January.

The match has been rescheduled for Saturday 8th January, kick-off 3pm, with both sides out of the FA Cup and with their League One games that day off as their opponents - AFC Wimbledon in Town's case and Shrewsbury in the Gills' - still in the competition.

An EFL statement reads: “Gillingham’s Sky Bet League One fixture versus Ipswich Town on Sunday 26th December has been postponed.

“Gillingham informed the EFL that it would be unable to fulfil the fixture at Priestfield due to a number of positive Covid-19 cases in their squad.

“In light of the increased transmission rate of the Omicron variant, the EFL will now review the circumstances surrounding the postponement.

“In addition it will assist affected clubs throughout this challenging period to help them mitigate against the risk of infection amongst players and staff, while ensuring their obligations to the EFL regulations are maintained.”

New manager Kieran McKenna's first match in charge of the Blues is now set to be next Wednesday's home game against Wycombe Wanderers.

Earlier today, Gills chairman Paul Scally outlined the situation at the Kent club, whose fixture with Crewe at the weekend was also postponed.

“We’ve got seven outfield players that are actually training plus both goalkeepers.” Scally told BBC Radio Kent.

“We’ve got six injured players who would otherwise be starting, we’ve got five players with Covid who are isolating and we’ve got one player and two members of staff who potentially have Covid, tested yesterday and are waiting for PCR tests.

“Apart from that, we have a number of staff, matchday staff, stewards, catering staff who have called off because they are either isolating of they don’t want to come and be in public places at this moment in time.

“You can’t play with seven players, that’s for sure. It is a real problem and we are all in a bit of a quandary in life at the moment, what to do, what not to do, what to do for the best, how to keep people safe.”


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Knightsy added 17:17 - Dec 22
Makes sense, Safety 1st for both set of players and fans.
13

Kickingblock added 17:22 - Dec 22
Good. The time can be spent profitably on the training ground. Hopefully this is a win win situation.
11

midastouch added 17:28 - Dec 22
Santa Pause!
9

TimmyH added 17:28 - Dec 22
Might as well postpone all the EFL games...quite a few clubs have covid cases, in my opinion it leaves the clubs with smaller squads open to or wanting to get games postponed like Gillingham.
0

RobITFC added 17:30 - Dec 22
Surely "injured" players should not come into effect, only ones with covid so they only have 5 actually with covid and possibly one other player. They must have a very small squad ?
9

jas0999 added 17:36 - Dec 22
Gillingham had other non covid related injuries and quite a few. No doubt they were keen to postpone blaming Covid. Still, can you blame them?
2

ButchersBrokenNose added 17:40 - Dec 22
I'm all for erring on the side of caution, especially when it comes to COVID, but why do I get the feeling Gillingham have pulled a fast one here? I don't see how putting the game off helps them, though; I think we'll do them either way.
4

Chrisd added 17:41 - Dec 22
Disappointing, but with what's going on currently player's safety and welfare is the most important thing. Nevertheless, on a positive it gives McKenna longer to work with the squad so every cloud and all that.
1

blues1 added 18:13 - Dec 22
Robitfc the point is that with the players with covid or isolating plus the injured players they cannot put out 14 players(according to them). Thus the postponement.
0

Bert added 18:13 - Dec 22
No surprise there. Likely that more will follow after Christmas. At least our supporters won't get wet !
1

RobITFC added 18:20 - Dec 22
According to wiki , they have a squad of 27 , so the numbers don't add up ?
4

Calderboy added 18:31 - Dec 22
I can't see how player safety becomes a factor when only 52% of EFL players have received their first vaccination where the supporters have to prove a double vaccination just to get in.
15

delias_cheesy_flaps added 18:56 - Dec 22
Evans can now pig out like Mr Creosote instead of being interrupted by footy :D
1

grinch added 19:25 - Dec 22
Injured players should not be taken into account so they are 5 down even with that my maths works out they had 21 players registered to play minus 1 as other goals they have 9 left so can't do it goverment shortened isolation today should that have impact to get 5 back ??
0

Nobbysnuts added 19:43 - Dec 22
Well happy with this. Gives the new manager plenty of time on the training pitch to drill into them his ideas. Also gives Evans plenty of time to stuff his fat red face with turkey and not have to worry about football.
2

CavendishBlue added 20:26 - Dec 22
Shame ....we might have won against 9

....although fielding 2 keepers....
1

ArnieM added 21:33 - Dec 22
Think this will help McKenna a lot tbh ….

COYBs
0

brendenward35 added 21:50 - Dec 22
Give out manager more time to work on the players and allow him to select the players he thinks will win the game. His only had a couple of training sessions by Boxing day so a good choice for Town. Now we need to slaughter Gillingham when they come to Portman Road and shut Evans up for good :-)
2

Monkey_Blue added 21:55 - Dec 22
I agree that injuries should be ignored but the fact is COVID cases added mean they have a dozen first team squad members out and possibly more by Sunday. I'm all for us having an advantage but surely it affects the integrity of the league to force them to play. Safety of fans, players and staff has to come first. It's also better to make an early decision especially with people interrupting their family plans to travel to Kent. Hardly fair on fans to find out it's off halfway down the A12.
2

Gforce added 22:52 - Dec 22
At least we won't lose on boxing day, for a change.
0

aas1010 added 00:37 - Dec 23
Do a panel result away win for Ipswich 3 points !👍🎄🎄
0

Generic added 09:57 - Dec 23
Let's face it, Steve Evans should be in a plastic isolation tent until this wave is done. The man's one giant walking co-morbidity.
0

dirtydingusmagee added 16:35 - Dec 23
shame we will be seeing a lot of games off Boxing Day, i always look forward to those games ,but thats the way it is now..
0


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