Was reading in the Athletic that the club are looking into a software which is currently under trial in Germany that could allow fans back into the stadium to some extent. Dortmund are currently trialing the software with a view to starting to phase spectators back into the stadium for next season, apparently the plan is to start off by playing matches at 30% capacity. Didn't go too much into the ins and outs of the software but it consists of cameras which check temperatures and when inside the stadium also works as a crowd management tool and alerts stewards if people aren't keeping their distance. Will cost around £90k a game to roll out which to be fair is a drop in the ocean compared to what the club could make from ticket sales, refreshments and merchandise on a matchday, even at a reduced capacity.
Presume Germany will be taking the lead with this as they did with the return of football so will have to wait and see how things turn out over there. Will be interesting to see how it would work at Anfield, if we're still adhering to the 1M rule by then I'd be surprised if they manage to get 30% capacity. As the crow flies I'd say for a rough estimate there's probably about 12 people who you'd be within a meter of in a standard Anfield seat so I'm unsure how they'd manage to get anywhere close to 30% if they'd have to take over 10 tickets away for each person they let in. Then you've got the unfortunate job of deciding who gets in and who doesn't. I think just over 50% of the Anfield capacity belongs to season ticket holders, so it would be very likely that a lot of season ticket holders won't be allowed to attend at least certain fixtures. Then you've got members who don't have season tickets but have built up loyalty over the years and by doing so have not missed a fixture in decades, I imagine they wouldn't be too happy being told that they don't qualify for certain games.
I'd just be happy to see a crowd back in some extent as I think our game, more than most, benefits from having a crowd due to the ebb & flow nature & intensity of our game. Whether distanced crowds would have much of an effect is probably up for debate (can imagine a lot of people would feel a bit weird basically singing on their own) but It'd be a step in the right direction at least
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