The threat of football going back behind closed doors has reemerged with the spread of the Omicron variant of Covid-19 but Norwich City boss Dean Smith is hopeful spectators won't be shut out again.

Smith has joked in recent weeks that he's felt like a politician at times during his pre-match press conferences, as he discusses the difficulties of navigating the latest coronavirus surge.

He even aimed a light-hearted barb in the government's direction on Christmas Eve as he quipped: “Unfortunately I don’t get the cheese and wine.”

Yet in his considered opinion as head coach of a Premier League club, he doesn't expect to be playing in empty stadiums again imminently.

"Well I hope not and I don’t think, with the way that the way the government have dealt with the Covid situation, that it is likely to go back to no supporters," said Smith.

“The fact that they pushed to have the double vaccination and the boosters, I’m no politician, but it looked like we were going for more herd immunity than other countries.

“I feel that to take the supporters away would be wrong, especially when we’ve been pushing out the double vaccines and the boosters.”

Among the many Covid conversations within football in recent days has been suggestions that players could take strike action, in protest about the busy festive fixture schedule in spite of the pandemic problems.

City's boss was asked about a possible strike and replied: “No, I don’t think you can. We have to follow the Premier League guidelines, on what needs to be done to get a game postponed, and the West Ham game was too much for us and got postponed after we submitted a request on the injuries and illnesses that we had.

“So that’s the way forward and that’s the way we continue.”

Safety and hygiene protocols have returned to maximum levels at Premier League stadiums and training grounds, minimising the amount of time players spend preparing and interacting with team-mates and staff.

“We’re having to follow all of the protocols set out by the Premier League and it’s pretty much gone back to Project Restart and where we were then," Smith added.

“We’re following all of those guidelines to make sure that everyone is kept healthy, so to speak, and away from Covid.”

One element of Project Restart that is yet to return is five substitutes being allowed and the City boss doesn't expect that to change.

“With the current Covid situation, being able to put five subs on the pitch would certainly help player welfare, but it’s not going to help the clubs who only have 13 plus one goalkeeper available," he explained.

“You can still only make three subs with that ruling in, so I think that’s another where the ship has probably already sailed because I think it’s been voted on three times already.”

In a lighter moment of a Christmas Eve press conference dominated by injury problems and Covid concerns, Smith was asked what was top of his Christmas wish list.

He simply replied, with a laugh: “Lots of points, as many points as we can!”

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