THE ART OF NOISE
Lennon: It is surreal with no fans in there & the sooner they return the better for football
NEIL LENNON admits watching English football return this week was a sight for sore eyes but he wasn’t quite so sure about what the experience was doing to his ears.
The fake fan noise filled the void but nothing beats the real thing as far as the Celtic manager (right) is concerned.
Lennon is counting down the days until his team get back to business on the pitch – but also until the supporters are back in the stands.
Celtic are frantically plotting behind the scenes in a bid to get punters into the stadium as soon as possible, even it it means in reduced numbers at first before the doors can be fully thrown open.
They’ve teamed up with the SRU who are doing similar studies with Murrayfield and the dream is there will be bums on seats as early as September.
Lennon knows football won’t be properly back until the place is packed out again as he’s even missing the stick he gets.
Lennon said: “I watched the English games and they were surreal. Players love playing in the big games because of the atmospheres.
“It was strange switching games and seeing one with the atmophere pumped in and one without. The one with the noise was definitely better.
“I don’t know how that would go up here mind you! It will be strange. There’s not been any selfies of late but you’ll miss the banter from the crowd.
“Man City v Arsenal whetted the appetite but these games do look a bit like glorified training games at times.
“Just to have football back in some form is a real shot in the arm though.
“We’re sitting here a little bit envious but I understand where we are as a country and as a football association. We made the right decisions at the right times for the good of our game.
“I’m pretty confident there will be fans in stadiums before the end of the year and the club are certainly at the forefront of looking at doing so.
“We’re looking at the health and safety, doing the risk assessments and trying to be really positive and purposeful in getting these procedures in place.
“We want fans back in as soon as possible.
“The club have been brilliant. The amount of work being done behind the scenes has been absolutely incredible.”