Walsall boss Darrell Clarke: Fan ban is killing our club

Clubs across the Football League were preparing to welcome back their supporters from October 1, in line with the government, after successful pilots were held in September.

That decision was then reversed, leaving many clubs scrambling to assess their finances and the tough winter ahead of them.

Now, speaking publicly for the first time since supporters were stopped from returning, Clarke has warned of the difficult futures historic clubs across the country now face.

“It’s obviously very, very disappointing,” he said.

“We’ve done a hell of a lot of work getting the stadium ready. We’ve all been told to focus on October 1, get your stadiums ready and with that comes a lot of time, effort and money and working on budgets from that.

“For them to pull the rug from underneath us. I’m not saying it’s an easy decision for the government but football is played outside.

“When you look at 60,000 travelling to the Premier League games you can probably understand that it’s top heavy but in the lower leagues it’s comfortable to socially distance here.

“We could get the fans in different stands at different times, it would be comfortable to do that and get our season ticket holders in and get some atmosphere in, safely.

“You can sit on the plane with 300 people. The Colchester chairman made a great point, you can go in the pub and get drunk until 10pm.

“This is killing clubs, it’s killing our club. We need the revenue into the football club, so hopefully decisions taken further down the line puts it more in favour of getting supporters back in.

“Not only that, but it’s not the same (without them). I feel the same pressures as a manager but I love the atmosphere that a game creates and we can’t wait to get our fans back in.”

Ahead of the planned return on October 1, Walsall had already prepared the Banks’s Stadium for more than 3,200 fans to socially distance in their 11,300 capacity.

The Saddlers are still waiting on news of financial aid from either the government or Premier League, with no agreement yet made.

Chairman Leigh Pomlett has already taken cost cutting measures to ensure the club survive in the coming months, as all staff – including playing staff – take part in a ‘cost reduction programme’.

Saddlers supporters have been doing their bit by fundraising for the club with the Walsall Supporters for Change group now collecting more than £2,800.

Meanwhile, midfielder Emmanuel Osadebe insists he cannot wait to play in front of the Walsall fans for the first time.

“I can’t wait because I feel that’s where the real energy, spark and drive to do well for the club comes from – the fans,” he said. “Obviously, I’ve got to do my job as professionally as I can.

“Hopefully they will be back soon and I can’t wait to show them and they can see live and direct what I’m about.”