Freeze could help us fall in love with game once more
Hibs star Ryan Porteous reckons the coronavirus lockdown could be good for football long-term.
He’s frustrated as anyone at not being able to play during the crisis.
After two months out through injury he was getting close to a return when the outbreak put the game on hold.
But Porteous believes the lengthy lay-off will make fans appreciate how much they love the game.
The Scotland Under-21 star said: “Everyone is just about coping for now but in a few more weeks or months we’ll all be ripping our hair out.
“It might be good for football though when it does come back.
“A lot of fans don’t turn up if results haven’t gone their way and people take football for granted.
If you take that privilege away they realise how much it means to them and they’ll all come rushing back.
“That would be brilliant. Football is part of a routine, whether you’re playing or watching. Your whole life is going to watch a match or play.
“It’s a bit mental now but it will be interesting to see how it pans out over the weeks and months ahead. I know I’m already dying to get back.”
Former Hibs star Paul Hartley also reckons the fans will come flooding back after the shutdown.
Hartley, boss of League Two leaders Cove
Rangers, said: “Crowds will come rushing back once this is all over.
“For the last 15 years or so, football has been 24/7 for 52 weeks of the year. You don’t have an opportunity to miss it.
“Now, though, it’ll be like it was when we were kids. The season would finish in
May and the next wouldn’t start until August.
“You were desperate to go and watch pre-season friendlies! I think we’ll see a similar impact this time around and that people will come back in force to football grounds.
“There could even be a new generation coming along as well. We need to look for some kind of positive from the current situation.”
Porteous, 21, signed a new deal at Easter Road until 2023 recently but required knee surgery after picking up an injury in January.
He was closing in on a comeback before the b coronavirus struck – but at le least he knows n now when the Premiership
P r resumes he’ll b be raring to go.
“Maybe this h has been a blessing for me b as I’ll be fully f fit by the time e everyone else is back,” Porteous said.
“If we do play out the rest of the season I might get more games than I thought I would when I was doing my rehab. And if the season is over I know
I’ll be 100 per cent when we start back.”
It’s uncertain what will happen to the current campaign, with football unlikely to resume until the summer at earliest.
With Cove clear at the top of League Two, Hartley is waiting to see if they will be crowned champions.
He said: “We could all do with clarity. People need to be able to plan ahead and that’s not possible now.”
Porteous was speaking as Hibs launched their new season tickets. Find out more at season tickets.hibernianfc.org.uk
People will realise how much football means to them and rush back