Everton open ballot registrations for Chelsea game

Ridiculous honestly how it's now become and I can't see many wanting to have to undergo dodgy tests with slipshod results every time they go the game.

The blanket ruling for seat allocation also raises interesting comparative problems for clubs amongst their peers and rivals. Take Merseyside for example where Tier 2 status permits up to 2,000 fans in attendance at 2 stadiums just a mile apart. The Liverpool ballot of season tickets in the local area yields 5,832 season ticket holders while at Everton they have 25,647 season ticket holders in the local area who can apply for their club's ballot.

The People's Club – or what?

A little wager on all the places being taken up for each game?

In all honesty, don't think I will be missing much. A freezing December Saturday night in the Top Balcony with no company and no banter?

If the Club was honest I reckon they would say it's more trouble and cost than it's worth.

I'm in agreement with you totally.

For me, going the match was about the camaraderie and being able to catch up with the people who'd been around you as regular season ticket holders for years.

It just smacks of soulless really and I can't see how it will even feel like a matchday experience, no atmosphere etc.

Should have just left it now until August and had more in then.

As the crisis recedes with the rollout of the vaccine, the numbers allowed will increase over time. That of course is dependent on take-up of the vaccine being sufficient. There are plenty of fools around who believe it is all a plot to turn people into zombies.

I was wondering how they will feed and water 2000 people in 15 minutes at half time, and ensure social distancing for those spending the proverbial penny.

Granted it was 20 years ago so maybe it's changed or maybe the 5,000 locals plus me were seated in the Kop. Regardless it reflects well on Everton. Just imagine the support if we actually start winning. COYB

If it was just the football, I might have given up 30 years ago. However, when the football's bad, the humour gets better.

At what point do you suggest needing a test to watch a football match should be stopped? What other activities should we need testing for before being allowed to undertake? Shopping in Lidl?

Opposition to what's been happening since March is not coming from 'zombies', but from people baffled by how easy the population has been coerced into giving up basic freedoms, and who align with numerous esteemed experts in epidemiology who can't find any evidence or justification for most of the measures forced upon them and who fear many of which will be retained ad infinitum.

I'm afraid the zombies in this instance are the likes of you two.

Haven't heard a version of that one for.. well, weeks.

Hear, hear. Saturday night, a pint and a substantial meal or a cold Gwladys Street, then rushing for the last train home. No contest. More effort, than it's worth.

In reply to your first question, I would suggest testing will be stopped when the risk of the NHS being overwhelmed passes. If vaccination proceeds as planned, I imagine that will be in the spring. As the number of fans permitted into stadiums increases, testing and proof of testing will become progressively less practical.

In response to your second question, the answer, I suggest, lies in what is proportionate and practical.

It's a great shame that the Park End will be closed. Would have added greatly to the atmosphere.

I suppose the issue is Chelsea changing in the Park End car park.

Surely they could be offered the bogs in the Lower Bullens instead.

I have been a supporter of Everton Football Club for over 65 years. But there is no way I will be going to Goodison Park ever again if a pre-requisite is a test or a vaccination.

Boris Johnson claims there will not be obligatory vaccination. That may well be so... but, with companies in various sectors beginning to exclude prospective customers on the premise that they have not been vaccinated, then near 100% vaccination is likely to be achieved without making it mandatory!

At a football ground, they will have measures both inside and outside the ground to ensure safe distancing, which is more than when you are getting something from a bottom shelf in a supermarket, with some random person ignoring you crouched down, and standing in front of you, stretching for the top shelf.

So yes, Steve, you do have a point about testing at grounds, it could be a very good idea; however, if this is the case, then why are these checks not be carried out elsewhere, like shops, pubs etc?

I think you may find some companies, shops etc starting to introduce testing prior to entry, or ask for proof of vaccination in due course, and from Hancock's comments I don't think the government will be too troubled by it.

Unless of course his vocal backbenchers kick up a fuss.

So not compulsory because of the government.

We'll see in due course, I suppose...

What's that about "Scouse reds go the pub, Scouse Blues go the match"?

It would be a challenge to hit the players from the top balcony. The way my eyes see it, they are not putting it in for Carlo, and once that starts there only one way you go, unfortunately.

Of course maybe pubs etc may totally ignore it but, as I said, we'll have to wait and see. My son runs 3 little pubs on the Wirral, and there's no chance that he'll be advocating it, for instance, but he's been well brought up!

I'm just reading that they're looking at launching an initiative in Liverpool for shops to offer a discount to people showing a negative test result.

This is apparently an incentive to get more people to be tested.

It seems that there is much higher uptake of tests in the more affluent areas of Liverpool, while in the more deprived areas the uptake has been pretty low.

This sort of bears out the ONS stats that only 20% of people testing positive are self-isolating. The reason? They can't afford the time not working, and the support offered is way insufficient.

A bit of a flaw in the planning?

Or will people be less likely to speak their minds knowing players can actually hear them?

Cue kung fu kicks round all the grounds.

"WE'RE ON THE MARCH WITH CARLO'S ARMY"

Adorned in DIY Blue and White military uniforms would make it a doozey!

Why do you think that, once the Pandemic is over, the government would want to go to the expense of still insisting on testing everyone who enters a football ground, or shop, or pub etc?

The cost would be massive and, once you start to get back to crowds of 30,000+ at sports events the logistics of the operation would be impossible.

People would have to start the testing process at the ground on a Wednesday to ensure that everyone got into the ground by Saturday kick-off.

I enjoy a good conspiracy theory along with the next man – but the size and scale of this one suggests that it's a figment of an over-active imagination or acute paranoia.

And it'll be anybody's duty who's part of the 2,000 crowd to shout something funny for the TV audience. 😉

They know the British public vote heavy on law or order but seem to think they can't adhere to laws themselves, madness and a convenient escape route to keep things open while the virus shook hands with everyone, just like that tool Boris Johnson.

We should've locked down earlier, stricter and for longer with more than a threat of a fine for those that were irresponsible with there's and other people's lives. As for the footie, it'll be great to get back to a match and I actually like the idea of not being surrounded by a miasma of stale beer farts.

The ones I work with think restrictions haven't been strong enough. I don't particularly like the concept of government control – least of all with this lot at the helm – but for crying out loud the evidence behind the vaccine is crystal clear.

I don't want my return to the match being made riskier by those who choose not to act for the common good. If enforcing a pre-entry vaccine keeps the selfish away, bring it on.

Quantas Airlines is one company that has been prominently reported. It will be requiring all travellers from 2021 to have been vaccinated against coronavirus. I am appalled Everton Football Club is now removing liberties also.

Stuart (49),

Your question can be answered by looking at the signatories to the Great Barrington Declaration.

On your final point, if the 'common good' is to be the only guiding light on how far individuals are coerced rather than persuaded into losing their liberties, then you will doubtless be giving up your driving licence at some time in the future.

I do understand your point about liberty but I believe the current circumstances trump that. And the common good is not my only guiding light. But, as a biologist, I find the hard science about vaccination and the spread of infection is pretty persuasive.

In Singapore we have given up basic freedoms to comply with mandatory mask wearing, track and trace, intensive testing and tough travel restrictions which mean I won't see my sons this Xmas. Daily cases in the Community are 0-1 per day for a population of 6 million on an island the size of the Isle of Wight.

In the UK, where the dialogue about restrictions is politicised? Over 12,000 cases a day.

The Great Barrington Declaration, when its boiled down to its essence, is advocating "herd immunity" as the cure for this ill. We tried that at the outset and now have the second-highest death rate in the world because of it.

As a 70-year-old, I am happy to wait for the vaccine. I do not see the current policy as eroding my civil liberties in any way, shape or form.

Like the rest of us, Steve C is entitled to his opinion but mine is very different indeed. I read of the Quantas Airlines stance to which he refers and fully agree with it - I sincerely hope it is adopted widely to help protect those of us willing to help ourselves and others from those not so willing.

As a matter of interest Steve, did you support the actions of Moise Kean, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker and indeed Dominic Cummings when they broke the law by ignoring lockdown rules?

Forgive me if I'm too stupid to get the point here but isn't the "common good" the ultimate goal?

This link gives some interesting information on the AIER:
Link

"a libertarian thinktank that is, in its own words, committed to “pure freedom” and wishes to see the “role of government … sharply confined”.

"The institute has a history of funding controversial research – such as a study extolling the benefits of sweatshops supplying multinationals for those employed in them – while its statements on climate change largely downplay the threats of the environmental crisis. It is a partner in the Atlas network of thinktanks, which acts as an umbrella for free-market and libertarian institutions, whose funders have included tobacco firms, ExxonMobil and the Koch brothers."

I find it difficult to chose between the thoughts of a Philosopher who kept a tea pot as a pet and the thoughts of a Russian nihilist.

As Brian says - we probably all have our own interpretation of what constitutes the "common good", but, notwithstanding the "tea pot", Bentham's "The said truth is that it is the greatest happiness of the greatest number that is the measure of right and wrong", can be, I expect, used to define "the common good".

Yes, I have taken part in clinical trials. They paid me 3 grand for it as well. I'm pretty sure mine was a placebo anyway.

Handy at a time I was back in the UK and skint!

As we live in a society and culture that deems the rights of the individual over their body sufficient enough to kill an unborn fetus, I struggle to see how anybody can be compelled to take a vaccine.

On a personal note, I will leave it as long as I can before I do get a jab, just to see how the various vaccines pan out.

Personally, I'd give the places to our magnificent away supporters who regularly create more noise than the home fans at the stadiums they visit, despite having to endure our legendary away performances.

I think current social distancing guidelines can easily be met at around 10% of stadium capacity as long as everyone remains sensible and patient.

I also hope only good, positive fans will be chosen who can scream, shout and sing their hearts out in support of all things Everton, not the moaning, groaning fans that appear to be on the increase.

That probably rules out half of ToffeeWebbers... sorry, but I want to watch and feel positive vibes from my armchair, not shameful embarrassment. The players already have that market cornered.

Oh dear, sorry, I've broken my own positive policy and therefore won't be attending.

Say that again VEERRRRY slowly :D

I can't see many wanting to have to undergo dodgy tests with slipshod results every time they go the game.

And yet over 19,000 applied for the Chelsea game!

Season Ticket Members who are currently part of the auto-renewal scheme for 2020-21, paying for their Season Ticket on a 12-month Direct Debit, will make their final payment on Monday 4 January 2021.

The Club can also confirm the general renewal period for Season Tickets will not begin in January. The Club is planning to open the renewal window in March, with the renewal deadline in June. Further details of the renewal window dates will be confirmed in due course.

Renewal Dates