‘WE'RE BIG PART OF COMMUNITY'

Burton chief’s fears if fans don’t return

- Chris Dunlavy

BURTON Albion chairman Ben Robinson says the government’s six-month ban on supporters will send shockwaves far beyond football.

Clubs across the EFL are facing a £200m revenue shortfall after plans for a phased return of fans from October 1 were shelved.

The move - announced by PM Boris Johnson on Tuesday - is one of several measures designed to halt the increase in Covd-19.

Without a financial rescue package, Robinson believes many lower league clubs will go bust by Christmas, and is urging the government to consider the impact such a mass extinction would have on communities.

“From the outside looking in, a football club is just a team and a group of supporters,” said the Brewers supremo. “But they are much, much more than that.

“Since March, we’ve provided free use of our facilities as a testing site for the NHS, which is continuing to operate. We’ve provided free use of a room as a temporary post-natal clinic so that people don’t have to visit GPs or hospitals.

“We’ve been used as a centre to distribute food parcels to the needy, and our charities have made an impact right across the county. It’s the same across the EFL.

Frustrated