Matt Maher: Football’s soul is still locked out of grounds

Albion were playing at home and for the first time in more than half a century he found himself watching the match on television.

“It was the first time I’d ever seen a live game at The Hawthorns on the telly. I hated it,” he said.

“It’s difficult to explain the feeling. You feel bereft, really, because you feel like you should be there. At least if you are in the ground you feel like you can influence the game.

“Of course you still get worked up, watching on TV, but it isn’t the same. The whole thing has just felt very strange.”

Homer’s feelings are echoed by Peter Abbott, for whom following Wolves wherever they went had been a ritual for more than four decades.

The Europa League match with Olympiacos back in March was the first away game he had missed since 1985. In 44 years, he had been absent from only one match at Molineux. Now he doesn’t know when he will get to see them in the flesh again.

“I’ve had to get Sky in order to watch the matches,” he said. “The first match against West Ham I struggled with and I still don’t know how people manage to watch football on TV all the time.

“It has got a little easier as the games have gone by but it still doesn’t feel right.”

Football may be back in the sense matches are being played and results logged, yet the experiences of Abbott and Homer are a reminder its soul remains elsewhere.

Friends and strangers who would congregate every week through one shared passion have been split into thousands of households.

There is a moment just before every match when their absence becomes painfully apparent to the few still permitted access to stadiums. The public address system cuts out and is greeted by a shuddering silence, before players emerge into a cauldron of nothing. The absence of any atmosphere has frequently translated itself into performances on the pitch.

Without supporters the game itself is changing too. The drinks breaks have proved an irritant, while expanding the number of substitutes permitted has similarly disrupted the flow and presented an advantage to those clubs with larger squads.

Of course, there was no other alternative than to restart the sport without supporters and no-one is suggesting otherwise. That still doesn’t make it easier for fans experiencing an abrupt disconnect with their club. In this region, where Wolves, Albion and Villa have entered the final matches of the season with everything on the line, it feels particularly cruel.

“This has the potential to be among the most exciting few weeks in Wolves’ history and we aren’t part of it,” said Abbott, who revealed he had booked accommodation in Germany in the forlorn hope supporters might be allowed to attend the closing rounds of the Europa League.

Even the likelihood some fans will be allowed into matches from the start of next season provides little solace.

Premier League and EFL clubs have held discussions over initially opening up 25 per cent of their grounds, something which if agreed will be vital to the likes of Walsall and Shrewsbury starting their campaigns.

Understandably, however, there are significant caveats. Top-flight clubs have discussed the possibility of supporters arriving at staggered times, while social distancing must be maintained inside and masks worn at all times. One idea is to close toilets at half-time to prevent concourses from becoming overcrowded. In short, it will still be football far removed from how it used to be.

“Some people will simply ask what is the point of going to the football if you can’t sit with your mates?” says Dave Woodhall, editor of the Villa fanzine Heroes and Villains.

“For people who go regularly it is more than just about football. It’s a social event and if they can’t do what they did before, it becomes a lot less appealing.”

Abbott goes even further. “If there was an option to keep the matches behind closed doors until all supporters are allowed back in, I’d vote for that,” he says.

“I don’t like the situation at the moment, but the thought of some supporters being allowed in and not being among them would be even worse.”

Just as with every other aspect of society, it may be several years before we can fully understand the impact of the pandemic on football.

Clubs are acutely aware not every supporter will return, after several months where everyone has had to reconsider their priorities.

Just how many choose to stay away, or the best methods of convincing them to return, are questions which cannot be answered now.

“I’ve honestly no idea how it is going to go,” says Woodhall. “You look at the reopening of pubs and it is not as though people have flocked back.

“I’ve been thinking in recent weeks about a trip I made to New York in the 1990s, where I met a man who was a huge baseball fan. He had just about every book ever written about the Yankees.

“I asked him what the experience of going to a match was like and he told me he hadn’t been for years.

“One season the players had been on strike, there were no matches for a few months and he realised he didn’t have to go. That’s how some people will feel here. They’ll just get out of the habit.”