A meeting of the Safety Advisory Group (SAG) was held today (April 2).
SAG is a multi-agency panel which includes Greater Manchester Police, Greater Manchester Fire and Rescue Service, Bolton Council, North West Ambulance Service and St John Ambulance.
The meeting was called by SAG to address concerns about Bolton Wanderers’ ability to guarantee the safety of spectators and the public in accordance with the general safety certificate for the University of Bolton Stadium.
Prior to the meeting, Bolton Wanderers confirmed it would be unable to commit to meeting the legal conditions of the certificate until after a scheduled appearance at the High Court tomorrow (April 3).
SAG members unanimously agreed that this would be a challenging timeframe to put an adequate operation in place to protect the safety of spectators for the upcoming fixtures versus Ipswich Town on Saturday (April 6) and Middlesbrough on Tuesday (April 9).
Bolton Wanderers Football Club has now been issued with a prohibition notice under the Safety of Sports Grounds Act 1975.
A spokesperson for SAG said:
“We recognise that Bolton Wanderers Football Club is at the heart of our community and this is a deeply regrettable situation.
“We have done everything we can over recent weeks to support the club at this difficult time.
“Every effort has been made to give the club enough time to put adequate matchday operation standards in place, but regrettably the law gives us no alternative but to issue a prohibition notice.
“Safety and security remain our primary concern and while we recognise that spectators may be disappointed, we are not prepared to put the public at risk.”