‘When the stadium is full and noisy it’s a big big help to us’
STOKE CITY’S CLASH WITH WYCOMBE TODAY MARKS 12 MONTHS SINCE THEY HAVE PLAYED IN FRONT OF THEIR FANS. PETE SMITH SPEAKS TO FANS, AND MICHAEL O’NEILL, ABOUT THE PAST YEAR
A pre-lockdown Michael O’neill.
THIS weekend brings up half a century of Stoke City games in the 12 months since Stoke supporters were last allowed in to watch. It has, hopefully, been a unique year of rattling seats and live streams, showers in concourses, changing in portable cabins and trying to make the most of a terrible situation.
Michael O’neill had won seven and drawn two of his first 11 home matches in charge of Stoke, having taken over a side four months previously which had won just one in 13 at the bet365.
A 5-1 whipping of Hull City in front of a crowd of 23,126 had seemed like a big step towards steering clear of relegation, leaping up to 17th with nine games to play, even if they were still just three points off the bottom three.
Finishing that job and starting
Goalscorers Sam Clucas, Nick Powell and Ty Campbell celebrate during Stoke City’s last game in front of fans, the 5-1 win over Hull City in March 2020. the next chapter – the big task of building a team to challenge for promotion at the same time as dismantling a squad that had got the club into that mess in the first place – has been played out behind closed doors.
There are hypothetical questions about how it has affected results and a consensus that there will be a huge sigh of relief and big smiles all around when the stands are full.
O’neill said: “I look at the games and I look at where we’ve been as a team and if you look at us as a team, we’ve been extremely good in the first half, arguably as good as any team in in the league. Possibly, supporters would have helped us greatly in the latter stages of games.
“When the stadium is full and noisy it’s a big, big help to us and it’s an intimidation to the opposition as well.
“We’ve certainly missed playing in front of our own fans and we typically have a great away support as well.
“I look back to the early days and the support we had on my first day at Barnsley, for example, at Huddersfield on New Year’s Day and it was incredible support. We miss that and the sooner we get back to fans in stadiums, it will be a real boost to everyone.
“It will have a feel of normality about it. It still feels a little bit hollow at times.
“It doesn’t affect your determination to win games but it can give you that extra edge.”
The past year has seen one run to a cup quarter-final, one home game which wrecked Brentford’s promotion surge, one away match which blew up Nottingham Forest’s play-off status, and one game which almost disappeared in the fog.
There have been refereeing horror shows and injuries and all the unscriptable dreams and nightmares that football can deliver even in the thick of mid-table.
There have also been 11 debuts – 10 first appearances and a league debut for Harry Souttar – and moments that can sometimes be underappreciated, like the explosion of noise from fans in the final few minutes to get a result over the line or the welcome that should have been awaiting Joe Bursik as he ran towards the Boothen End as a 20-year-old recalled from loan in a goalkeeper emergency.
There was the poignant silence – even in an empty stadium – before the visit of Bournemouth in January while a big screen tribute played to the former players, coaches and supporters who had died in the previous year, including those who have gone much too soon.
“Even last week, Ryan Shawcross leaving the club after 13 years and no supporters there,” added O’neill.
“Football without supporters is nothing. I think Jock Stein said that and it’s true. It doesn’t have the same emotion in the stadium, it doesn’t have the same feeling about it.”
Thousands of those fans have been trying to follow however they can.
All matches have been available to watch either online or on television – but it has been weird.
Paul Ruane and his wife Carolyn, from Trentham, hadn’t just been going to every first team fixture for years but every under-23s and under-18s game, too that didn’t clash.
Paul said: “The current matchday routine on a Saturday is to go shopping, do some chores around the house, try to follow the under18s game from whichever source I can find, bacon and cheese oatcakes for dinner, try to remember to check the team news, prepare food for tea and try to get mildly enthusiastic just before kick-off. We try not to fall asleep watching the game on the stream, shrug our shoulders and then make tea.
“For an evening game, it’s shrugging shoulders, catching up with what’s going on in the real world and then bed.
“It’s all a bit of a non-event. The sooner we can get back to some kind of normality the better.”
It’s not just the action.
“I am really missing seeing friends before and after games,” said Paul.
“I’m really missing the banter on coach too – and Ann’s cake. I’m