The announcement by the UK government surrounding which tiers areas of the country will fall in to once the second lockdown ends on Wednesday has been greeted with disappointment by Vanarama National League South side Slough Town.
Rebels games will remain behind closed doors until further notice after Slough borough was placed in tier 3, the highest level of restrictions available, while the rest of Berkshire was added to tier 2.
There have been no supporters at Arbour Park since the early curtailment of the 2019/20 season for Slough games and the season only started in October after a support package was unveiled by government agencies.
A statement on the club website said: “We are disappointed that Slough has today been placed in Tier 3 of COVID-19 restrictions, taking effect when the national lockdown ends next Wednesday.
“This means that home games at Arbour Park will continue to be played behind closed doors and without spectators for the foreseeable future.”
Slough Town are, as has been well documented, classed as ‘elite sport’ along with all their National League rivals. What is unclear at present, is how the tier 3 regulations will affect the non-elite sides that also play at Arbour Park, namely Uhlsport Hellenic League Division One East sides Chalvey Sports and Langley.
Both clubs arguably rely even more heavily on money earned from paying spectators to keep their clubs running week to week.