Non-tier three sides, including Crawley Town, have an unfair advantage says Mansfield Town boss Nigel Clough

Stags will have to play Crawley behind closed doors on 5th December after Nottinghamshire was placed under tier 3 restrictions.

But they will face back-to-back away games at Cambridge United and Carlisle United in front of home fans.

“It is very unfair,” said Clough. “I’m delighted fans are allowed in some places but it's unfair on other clubs.

“Football should be an even playing field and, until all clubs can have fans back, no-one should be allowed back in.

“It gives home fans an advantage in those areas. I’m not sure, at the top level, what it will be like if you let 2,000 in at Arsenal and places like that.

“You won't notice a difference, but you will at our level.

Cambridge and Carlisle will have fans allowed in, but we won't be for our home games so it's unfair.

“The irony is we pushed the Cambridge game back 24 hours due to the FA Cup game and if we hadn’t done that they wouldn’t be fans in the ground.”

Midfielder James Perch also feels the new guidelines create an unfair north/south divide

“It's really disappointing not to have fans back,” he said. “It is also disappointing that they can have fans back in down south

“It is dividing the north and south and it is ruining things for the north.

“We were all waiting for this moment and thought people would be allowed back in, it felt like a dagger to the heart.

“We want people to come back in. It gives teams in the south an advantage now.”