FEARS have been raised that the resumption of the Premier League season could lead to pubs flouting the coronavirus lockdown restrictions.

It comes as league officials have expressed hopes that elite football will restart in the UK in June and finish at the end of July to fit in with Uefa’s European competition plans.

Talks have been ongoing over the possibility of some of the behind-closed-doors games being shown on free-to-air television.

However, with 47 of the 92 fixtures currently set to be aired on Sky or BT, the chair of Wrexham Council’s licensing committee has expressed worries some pubs could be tempted to let people in to watch them without permission.

Although drinking establishments across Wales have been required to shut their doors since March, Cllr Alan Edwards claimed not all were playing by the rules.

He said: “I have a concern over the talk about the resumption of Premier League football and that is that people are making out that it will be good for the public to be able to watch football again.

The Leader:

Wrexham councillor Alan Edwards. Image: Wrexham Council

“Well that’s okay if you’ve got Sky or BT, but a lot of people have not, and they will try to go to someone’s house or worse still we could have some public houses opening on the quiet.

“As chair of the licensing committee, this worries me a lot as we know some have already flouted the rules.

“I agree it would be a lift to see football back, but it should be on TV for everyone to see and I don’t think we are going to get that.”

The UK Government recently said it remained “hopeful” over the resumption of the Premier League season, but insisted the go ahead had not been given yet.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4 on Friday, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said any decision to allow teams to start playing again would depend on people’s safety.

He said: “They’ve not got the green light. If we can get a plan that works then I’d like us to be able to go ahead with it because I think it would be good for the nation, it would be good for football as a whole.

“I’m really hopeful we can get this up and running but public safety must come first so it’s only if we’re confident of that that we’ll be able to proceed.”

Despite his comments, a YouGov poll has shown almost three-quarters of people would not see the return of football as a boost to their morale during the pandemic

In a survey of more than 2,000 people, around 73 per cent said the Premier League and English Football League coming back would not lift their spirits, while only 19 per cent said they would be pleased to see football return.