Paul Cuttill, Liverpool VP Stadium Operations and Matt Ashton, Director of Public Health Liverpool City Council have discussed the prospect of needing a ‘Covid Pass’ to attend football matches at Anfield.
Speaking to Sky Sports, the pair have revealed that the threat of the omicron variant must be taken seriously and although they want games to remain being played in full stadiums, fans will be denied entry if they can’t show the relevant information required at turnstiles.
“We’re asking all fans before they come to the ground to make sure they’ve got a covid vaccination certificate which can be [proof of] double jabbed and a booster as well, or a negative lateral flow test,” Cuttill said.
“So we’re asking everyone to make sure they arrive with this information prior to getting to the stadium.
“When they get to the stadium, we’ll be carrying out spot-checks around the whole area, so that’s the hospitality area and at turnstiles around the stadiums, in the queues, and we’ll be asking fans to provide evidence of this covid certification to allow them entry into the stadium.
“If they are not able to provide that certification, then they may be refused entry, unless they can go and get a lateral flow test and come back, they’ll need that information to be able to get through into the stadium.”
Ashton supported Cuttill’s claims and also claimed that Jurgen Klopp’s side do play better when Anfield is full of the club’s loyal supporters.
“We know that levels of covid are increasing across the whole country, obviously everyone is concerned about the omicron variant, so it’s right that we do everything we can do to minimise the spread of the virus to keep ourselves safe but also, crucially, to keep fans in stadiums to allow fans to carry on watching football,” he said.
“We know that our teams play better when there’s fans in the stadium.
“So it’s really important that we take this seriously now, vaccination is a crucial part of that, as is testing in advance.”
You can watch the video of the pair speaking about the situation here.