Darragh MacAnthony: The Irishman counting the cost of English football's ban on fans

RUNNING ON EMPTY: Nets cover the seats in the stands at Reading’s Madejski Stadium. Many lower league English clubs warn they will go out of business without financial aid. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Football’s modern transformation from sport to business, which has perturbed and disturbed fans in equal measure for so long, is coming home to roost as governments begin to consider: who should pay to save the game?

The recent announcement that football clubs in the UK, including those in the Premier League, will no longer be able to partially up open stadia in October as part of a scheme to gradually welcome back fans, has left the sport in a quandary.