King's Coronation: Will there be Premier League disruption for Newcastle United, Leeds & Co? Police chief reveals view
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The ceremony for Charles is due to take place in London on Saturday, May 6, which will clash with a full round of football fixtures.
The whole Premier League and Football League calendar was cancelled as a mark of respect to the Queen dying in September – a decision which attracted some criticism – and then two top-flight matches were called off the following weekend for policing reasons due to the Queen’s lying in state and funeral.
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Hide AdWith Premier League games between Fulham and Leicester, Tottenham and Crystal Palace, and West Ham and Manchester United, scheduled to be played in the capital on the weekend of the coronation, chief constable Roberts believes there is enough time to put plans in place to avoid any postponements.
“Hopefully not, it was remarkable only two games were cancelled last time,” Roberts, the UK’s football policing lead, said at a Digital, Culture, Media and Sport Committee meeting.
“We have clearly got a period of planning now. It may be if there are particular fixtures in London which coincide with the coronation, but we have got the time now to sensibly reflect and make plans because it worked really well for the funeral.
“We had a very good dialogue with the Premier League and FA last time around and were able to meet everyone’s objectives of not putting an over burden on the police.
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Hide Ad“It will be a decision for the Metropolitan Police. Clearly there will be a massive mutual aid from all around the country to support the operation as there was last time.
“Hopefully it won’t impact on it but it will have to be viewed on a game-by-game basis. If it comes to that we hope there is some flexibility on the fixtures and just put them on a different day.”