Joey Barton: Football matches are secondary to the public’s health

Fleetwood Town boss Joey Barton does not want to see the health of fans and those involved in football risked for the sake of games being played.
Fleetwood Town head coach Joey BartonFleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton
Fleetwood Town head coach Joey Barton

As more and more leagues around Europe and the world suspend or alter their usual schedules as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, there are clear priorities at Highbury.

Barton does not want to see games without fans, having spoken about the impact Town’s home support has had on his side this season.

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He said: “The most important thing is people’s health at moments like this.

“What little knowledge we have about this is that it’s going to be something that clearly affects attendances at matches; how that pans out for the next six to eight weeks, I’m not sure.

“At moments like this, football unfortunately has to become secondary to people’s health and wellbeing.

“It is what it is and we’ll follow the advice of the experts as and when we’re told what to do.

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“It’s huge, the energy in the stadium. I was lucky enough to be at Liverpool versus Atletico Madrid at Anfield and the atmosphere was incredible.

“I can’t imagine what that game would have been like with no fans in it.

“It wouldn’t have had the feel of a Champions League knockout game, it’d have been more like a training ground exercise.

“We all know how important an atmosphere and football fans inside a stadium are but in moments like this you have to take into consideration people and their health and their lives.

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Football has to take a back seat and you look beyond that to the Euros in the summer which is across nations, it just looks like a period of time in which it is very important to listen to experts.”

Barton and Fleetwood have been taking on board professional advice in regards to the spread of COVID-19.

He said: “We’ve taken advice from people we know, who have worked with the football club, who have experience in dealing with contagious diseases.

“Colonel Chris Gibson worked with us in terms of team building stuff and he was at the forefront of helping with the Ebola crisis and he helped build a facility in Sierra Leone at the time. We’ve just asked him for a bit of advice in terms of how we police our environment.”