Newcastle fans face ballots to watch matches with vastly-reduced crowds at grounds

All Premier League games are set to be behind closed doors until November at the earliest

Newcastle United and all football fans could be welcomed back in vastly-reduced numbers during the second half of the 2020/21 campaign.

That is according to a new report in The Sun on Monday morning, which also claims clubs will not have full capacity crowds at games next season.

The Premier League’s chief medical officer Mark Gillett recently said “‘the public health situation is not going to change in the next six to 12 months”.

And now the suggestion from some quarters is that all games in the top-flight will be behind closed doors until November at the earliest.

However, should fans then later be allowed into games after that date then a random balloting of 2019/20 season-ticket holders or those with memberships is believed to be seen as the fairest means by some clubs, according to the report.

The Premier League’s Project Restart received a huge boost on Monday morning after the government released its “phase two” guidance for athletes and elite sportsmen and women.

This next stage will enable footballers to return to close-contact and competitive training, provided it has the "appropriate carefully controlled medical conditions in place".

The Premier League confirmed on Saturday night that two more people have tested positive for coronavirus after the second round of testing.

In total, 996 players and club staff were tested for Covid-19 in the second round, with the number of tests available to clubs increasing from 40 to 50 from the first batch of testing.

And now Premier League clubs will vote on implementing phase two of Project Restart when they meet on Wednesday.

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