The Government has appeared to pave the way to Liverpool securing the Premier League title on Merseyside by insisting that a decision on neutral venues lay with a local authority group based in the city.
Asked by The Mail on Sunday if clubs like Liverpool should accept the six games national police chiefs have earmarked for neutral venues, Oliver Dowden, the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, declared it was for the city's obscure Safety Advisory Group, made up of councillors, police, football club representatives and public health experts, to make the decision.