Lucky, excited... and just great to return
THE walk up to the stadium was quiet. Much quieter than usual. You saw a fan every 200 yards instead of a few feet in front of you, singing and cheering, as you cross the bridge from Westfield.
All of those we did see, you could not help but hear the words ‘lucky’, ‘excited’ and ‘great to be back’. You miss the joking and the banter. You miss the kids shouting, the stadium experience.
It was so easy to get inside. There were loads of staff. We had our temperatures taken, everyone had masks on and there was hand sanitiser everywhere.
Inside the stands, there were at least three seats between us and the next bubble. I took my three children, aged 15, 12 and seven. The whole thing felt like more of a family event. It did not feel as though we were in the middle of a pandemic. There were 1,996 people I didn’t know but we all felt safe. Everyone was relaxed. We were not told we had to wear our masks during the game.
Everyone was happy, too — well, until United brought on Marcus Rashford and changed the whole game!
When ‘ Bubbles’ started, the hairs raised on the back of my neck. We cheered every goal as the club showed highlights of previous games on the big screens. Not as loudly as when we actually scored, though.
Everyone was on their feet, cheering. That was brilliant. We sang songs, there was huge encouragement whenever West Ham players pressed and won tackles.
It was great to be back but it still felt extremely different. Once one person started singing, everyone else got involved. The players reacted to the encouragement. But once the chants stopped, there was instant silence. You could hear a pin drop.
But I loved it. I think everyone did. You would normally leave straight away but everyone took a moment to take it all in and respect all the work everyone has done to get us back in.
I think we were all in awe of being back in the stadium having never thought we would be again this season.