Brighton game was our biggest of the season yet
SHANE DUFFY was yet to sign for Celtic at the time.
But the Irish defender might already have taken part in the biggest game of the Premiership season a small matter of 462 miles south of Hampden.
Duffy was part of the pilot match for the return of fans to grounds in England at the Amex Stadium against Chelsea.
Judging by the feedback Scottish football has a right to be positive about the outcome.
Punters here are eagerly awaiting their opportunity to see the padlocks taken off stadiums.
Listening to Jason Leitch at the weekend and reading Record Sport’s Ross Pilcher in yesterday’s paper, the signs were encouraging from the rugby event last Friday at Murrayfield which was given the green light by Holyrood.
Westminster similarly approved the opportunity for Brighton to have a go at the first pilot for football south of the border and Premier League chief executive Richard Masters was thrilled that the partial return of supporters was deemed a success.
Brighton opened the gates to 2524 fans with strict social-distancing measures in place around the ground and for seating in the sparsely populated stands.
There were plenty of hand sanitisation points on the approaches to the Amex, while face coverings were required for fans queuing to get in, although not while seated.
A digital match ticket was scanned for entry into the ground, with cashless transactions at kiosks and there was signage reminding fans of the need to regularly wash hands.
Given the ground holds 30,000, that is just less than 10 per cent, so you are talking the equivalent of letting 5000 into Hampden for a game. Of course, it’s just a starting point and you would be hoping that those percentages will increase going forward.
But you have to walk before you can run and Scottish clubs would have taken heart from the soundbites on England’s south coast.
Masters’ words are proof punters can do it right. Football fans are not idiots, even though you suspect some inside the corridors of political power don’t trust them that much. They’ll get it right here when given their chance.
Holyrood is making that happen with test events on Saturday week for the matches.
Scottish football is under strict orders to follow procedures and they will do so.
People pointed fingers at the Aberdeen Eight and Boli Bolingoil. Rightly.
But they have served their punishment and, in fairness, if you look at the Alex Gogic situation at Hibs, you could argue our clubs are in danger of breaking their backs they are bending over so far backwards to keep the government happy.
How can Holyrood expect honesty when people who try to do the right thing lose out? That’s another story.
Suffice to say, clubs and fans will grab their chance and, if the goings on at Brighton are anything to go by, there is real reason to be optimistic that the days of completely empty stadiums will soon be over.
It’ll be ages before it’s normal again. But a little bit of something is better than a whole lot of nowt.
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