Prime Minister Boris Johnson has officially announced the government’s ‘roadmap’ to take the country out of its third national lockdown.
In a direct address to the nation yesterday, and coming just over seven weeks after the reintroducing of national restrictions in England for a third time amid the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the government’s roadmap will see the economy reopen over a number of weeks, lifting measures for separate sectors at four different stages.
Mr Johnson claimed that this exit strategy was designed in such a way as to be “irreversible”.
The ‘COVID-19 RESPONSE – SPRING 2021‘ roadmap document published on the gov.uk website clearly sets out the ‘Four Steps’ method for the easing of restrictions.
But it’s the all-important ‘Step Three’ that football fans will want to keep an eye on.
While people have been barred from entering sporting venues all together since December when the tiers system was scrapped, the Prime Minister’s plan has now set out the way forward.
And so, depending on if the government deems it to be safe, from 17th May at the earliest, the largest seated stadiums across the country that can properly space out fans – including Old Trafford and the Etihad Stadium – will be allowed up to 10,000 people inside, or to be a quarter full – whichever is lower.
Also under the plans, smaller outdoor venues will be capped at 4,000 or 50% capacity, whichever is lower, and indoor sporting events at 1,000 or 50% capacity.
This means that fans could be allowed back inside stadiums for the final weekend of the Premier League.
Wikimedia Commons / Flickr
The Football Association said it was “absolutely delighted” at the plan to allow fans back in stadiums, because “the game is simply not the same without them”.
While it may be a little too early to tempt fate, this news is likely to be music to the ears of the blue side of the city as, if all goes to plan and the winning streak continues, it raises the prospect of Manchester City lifting the trophy in front of their fans at home after playing Everton on 23rd May.
Manchester United on the other hand are away that weekend, but fans may still be allowed to cheer on their team when they play against Wolves at Molineux Stadium.
It’s not just dates for the Premier League that football fans need to mark in their diaries though, as the FA Cup Final on 15th May could also be used as a test event for the new rules, and then they also look set to be able to attend the delayed Euro 2020 matches at Wembley this summer.
The stadium is due to host seven matches including all three of England’s group games, a last-16 clash, both semi-finals and the final.
Even grassroots football can resume from 29 March too.
Manchester United / Catherine Ivill
If it’s not football you’re a fan of though, you might be pleased to know that the other major sporting events set to benefit from the roadmap to end lockdown include Wimbledon, Royal Ascot, the British Grand Prix and cricket internationals, as well as several non-elite sporting facilites such as tennis and basketball courts and open-air swimming also reopening on 29th March.
So, there’s plenty to look forward to.
Sport
Pep Guardiola hints at when Manchester City fans can expect to see their latest arrival
Danny Jones
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given supporters a rough timeline as to when they can expect to see their new signing, or at least their latest arrival, make his first appearance.
The Blues wrapped up the January transfer window with four major signings: their new attacking number seven, Omar Marmoush (who has already bagged a hattrick on his home debut) promising defensive duo, Abdukodir Khusanov and Brazilian Vitor Reis, as well as their ‘mini-Rodri’, Nico Gonzalez.
However, the club has had another late arrival who was technically signed back at the start of last year but who has spent for the last 12 months or so loaned back to his previous parent club, River Plate in Argentina, waiting to make the move over to the Etihad Stadium – and now he’s here in Manchester.
Speaking on his touchdown in 0161, Pep said Claudio Echeverri won’t be thrown into first-team action straight away but did give a rough estimate as to when City fans could expect him to get involved. You can see him discussing the integration plan in his post-match press conference following the Spurs win.
The mention was only brief but there’s still plenty of reason for Man City fans to be excited by the late January signing.
“Yeah, he [Claudio Echeverri] is going to start to train and mainly will be for the end of the season, maybe the [Club] World Cup and as soon as possible [that] he arrives he can adapt quick for the future.”
As mentioned, the 19-year-old Argentinian attacking midfielder from Resistencia officially put pen to paper with CFG back in January 2024 and was quickly dubbed ‘the next Messi’.
Now, although the football world is often quick to jump the gun with these things and he isn’t the first and certainly won’t be last to be slapped with this premature title, he’s done more to back up these claims since then than he has rubbish them.
Starring at the 2025 Under-20 South American Championships, netting six goals in nine games to finish the tournament as the second highest scorer thanks to notable braces against Brazil and Uruguay as the young Argentine’s finished as runners up.
He also notched 48 senior appearances for River Plate thus far, netting four goals and grabbing eight assists in that time, not to mention having already captained his national team at the 2023 Under 17s World Cup, where he scored another five.
Safe to say there’s plenty of talent to be tapped in this lad.
Once again, Echeverri won’t go straight into the senior set-up for a little while yet, barring a major injury crisis, but he’ll be a more than exciting addition to the City Football Academy and for future first-team lineups for years to come.
Who knows, maybe he’ll be included in an FA Cup matchday squad? Nevertheless, you can expect him to not just come of the bench but hopefully show what he can do at the Club World Cup this summer.
City‘s first fixture as reigning champions of the competition will be against Moroccan side Wydad AC on 18 June 2025.
You can watch Echeverri’s first full interview as a Man City player down below:
The new Man City signing is excited to be finally be part of the club 13 months on from agreeing his contract.
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
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Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Emily Sergeant -
23rd February 2021 
