Fans applauding the knee showed why our stadiums need their vocal ‘ lifeblood’
MY favourite initial reaction to the latest audition from Millwall fans to be Tommy Robinson’s house band came from Danny Baker.
The lifelong fan’s tweet – “Makes y our s ki n c raw l . How come t hi s clump of Neanderthals get tickets?” – spoke for those of us angered that players gesturing support for equality can be booed by their own supporters.
Ev e n b e t t e r r e a c t i o n s followed.
At a l l f o u r P r e mi e r League grounds whose ose gates reopened on the he Saturday, Sunday and d Monday, fans struck a blow for decency.
At Chelsea , Spurs, Liverpool and Brighton the diminished band of supporters applauded their players for taking the knee, loudly contra- di c t i ng t h e a r my of social- media trolls who ho c l a i m e d “r e a l f a n s ” support the Neanderthal hal clump.
Only with the game’s e’s lifeblood back where it belongs could that li e have been called out. Yet et another vindication of Jock Stein’s old adage that football without fans is nothing.
What a change even 2,000 voices made to the concept of watching live football . The f ortunate few who reconnected with their beloved team after nine long months l ooked l i ke kids clutching Willy Wonka tickets. Catching glimpses of their anguish and elation , and h e a r i n g t h e m belt out
t h e i r
a n t h e ms, reconfirmed that they are much more than scenery for the subscription punters watching at home.
They are i n f act as much a part of the game’s spectacle as crunching tackles and 30- yard shots. And that empty
f o o t b a l l stadiums work only as backdrops for new signings to hold up scarfs and museum tours.
As J urge n Kl o pp s a i d , walking out at Anfield, unsure o f w h a t t o e x p e c t a n d ending up with goosebumps: “Whatever the weather was like outside, it was sunshine inside the stadium.”
For TV viewers, having the fake crowd noise replaced with real , h human emotion was a revelation. revelat
Without shows sh of devotion from people who have been invested in a football team all of their lives, we are left with an anodyne impersonation i of the real thing thing.
It’s the diff difference between watching a s sitcom so dire it needs canne canned laughter and your favourite favourit comedian in a s w e a t y b e e r cellar.
As Mancheste ter City manager Pep Guardiola said last m month, without spectato spectators in the ground
“the players lose the joy of playing football.”
If there was any justice their return would be a light- bulb moment for the people running the game, especially the Premier League. A realisation that their product comes alive only when its bawdy, tribal followers are present and they would struggle to f log live games around the world for anywhere near the sums they do without their presence.
It would make clubs realise that fans deserve to be treated better than to be sent to the other end of the country for an 8pm kick- off, missing the last train home, because TV wants it that way.
It would make them realise that a decades- ol d l aw – unless you’re in the expensive seats you can’t drink alcohol in view of the pitch – needs challenging. And that asking them to pay £ 14.95 to view the games left on TV ’s cuttingroom f loor was a criminal insult. At the very least, last w e e k e n d ’ s s u c c e s s f u l reintroduction should push clubs t o demand f ans be readmitted in larger numbers.
There is no scientific logic to ruling that only 2,000 people be allowed into state- of- theart, Covid- secure grounds like Tott enham’s, whil e 60, 000 seats stand empty.
In the early months of next year the case needs to be made for stadiums to build b a c k t o w a r d s c a p a c i t y, especially now the vaccine has arrived.
It would be a reward for fans who have overwhelmingly behaved in the opposite manner to the Neanderthal c l u m p o f c o m m o n perception.
Especially in the Premier League, where we could be set to witness a thrilling finale to one of the most open title races in years.
Fans deser ve to be back witnessing the agony and the ecstasy i n al l it s close- up glory.