Winter Break
Livingston Football Club is in favour of bringing the scheduled winter break forward given the current situation with the rapid spread of the Omicron variant, which will come as no surprise given our manager stated this publicly last week at a scheduled press conference.
We believe that this would give us a necessary time to assess and evaluate the changing situation to make better informed decisions across the board.
While we understand the risk associated with this to the fixture calendar, we believe that we need to give ourselves the best possible opportunity to play these games Infront of our supporters. Football Supporters up and down the country have been asked to give up so much since the pandemic started and we believe that taking this decision to give ourselves the chance for our supporters to attend these matches is the least that can be done by clubs.
However, there is a bigger picture here which football clubs are aware of. Scottish Football wants to take its responsibilities seriously in helping to curb the transmission of the Omicron variant. We believe that by bringing the scheduled winter break forward, we can help in slowing down transmission rates due to no supporters attending stadia but also with a reduction in the likelihood of supporters gathering in public places, pubs, restaurants, and households. Furthermore, it takes a lot of pressure away from the players who are extremely concerned that they will be the vehicle for the virus into the football club. Sometimes it’s easy to forget the amount pf pressure placed upon the players in this ever-changing environment who have lives away from football. This also allows players, staff, and fans a window of opportunity to receive their booster jags only helps alleviate the current situation with Omicron.
After all, we want to protect our NHS, protect the wellbeing of our players, staff and supporters and ensure that we come through this wave of Omicron as best as we can.
There is no ideal scenario as we have found out on numerous occasions throughout the pandemic however, we have to be realistic and do everything we can to stop the transmission of this unforgiving virus.
