Government changes message on Brighton fans back at the Amex Stadium

The plans to watch all live sport events in England were placed under review earlier this month after a rise in coronavirus cases.

Premier League clubs had previously urged the government to remain committed to the scheduled controlled return of fans on October 1 due to the "significant impact" of the loss of matchday revenues.

Gove has now confirmed plans for a staged return would be "paused".

"We were looking at a staged programme of more people returning - it wasn't going to be the case that we were going to have stadiums thronged with fans," said Gove speaking on BBC Breakfast.

"We're looking at how we can, for the moment, pause that programme, but what we do want to do is to make sure that, as and when circumstances allow, get more people back.

"The virus is less likely to spread outdoors than indoors but again it's in the nature of major sporting events that there's a lot of mingling."

The UK's Covid-19 alert level has increased, meaning transmission is "high or rising exponentially".

The Premier League wrote to the Government warning that football will lose £100m a month while matches are played behind closed doors.

Last August Brighton admitted 2,524 supporters during a successful test event in the 1-1 pre-season friendly draw with Chelsea.

It was the first football match to have fans since a ban on mass gatherings in March.

"The success of having 2,500 supporters in the Amex was very encouraging and we are committed to having full stadia as soon as possible, with safety always our priority," said Premier League chief Richard Masters last month.

"We are working hard alongside our clubs, the Government and the safety authorities to achieve this."

New measures will be set out by Prime Minister Boris Johnson later today.