Shropshire Star

Matt Maher: A year without fans – but will they rush back?

When Albion were knocked out of the FA Cup by Newcastle a year ago this week, John Homer was among the last people to leave The Hawthorns.

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At the time he had no idea that, 12 months on, he’d still be waiting to return.

“I’d have laughed at the suggestion,” he says. “Of course we had heard of coronavirus by that stage. There was a hint there might be trouble ahead.

“But I don’t think anyone expected the shutdown to come so rapidly and of course, no-one knew how long it was going to last.”

The coming days will bring the passing of a few more unwanted anniversaries. Sunday will mark a year since Molineux last welcomed supporters, for a 0-0 Premier League draw with Brighton. On Tuesday, it will be 12 months since Leicester and Villa played the last top flight match in front of a capacity crowd.

Next Friday, meanwhile, will be a year on from Mikel Arteta’s positive test for Covid-19, the moment which brought the 2019-20 season screeching to a halt.

Though the Premier League and Championship would restart three months later, barring a few weeks in December when a small number of clubs were allowed a small number of supporters, the turnstiles have remained locked.

“It is a long old time,” says Homer, chairman of the Albion Supporters Club who prior to the pandemic had missed only six home matches at The Hawthorns since 1969.

“The game against Blues, the first behind closed doors, was the first time I had missed a home match since 1996,” he adds.

Should Albion fall short in their bid to pull off the greatest of escapes, the 2020-21 may come to be remembered among fans as one which never happened – a Premier League season of which they never witnessed a minute in the flesh.

“I guess at times there has been an upside,” reflects Homer. “This has been a poor season for us.

“I’ll be honest, after watching us get pasted at home by Arsenal and Leeds I did think what I’d have been doing had I been in the ground, the drive home in the freezing cold.

“When we lost to Leeds I just walked into the kitchen and made a cup of tea.

“The flip side of the coin is QPR last season, winning promotion and all those celebrations. We missed out on that.

“I don’t know what it has been like for supporters of clubs who have had more wins to celebrate. I mean, Villa beat Liverpool 7-2. When is that going to happen again? I can’t imagine what it was like for their fans to miss that one.”

Well, let’s ask one.

“It’s been frustrating, very frustrating,” says Dave Woodhall, editor of the Heroes and Villains fanzine. “It is sobering, too, to think the last time most Villa fans will have seen the team in action was at Wembley last year in the Carabao Cup final.

“This season we haven’t been able to go and watch what is arguably the most entertaining Villa team of the last 30 years. That said, I’d rather miss us win than watch us lose.”

Football is nothing without fans, we were always told. Yet the past year has proven the old saying isn’t entirely true.

Football is something without fans and while it might be a less attractive, more sanitised version this season has still counted. Champions will still be crowned, clubs promoted and relegated, careers and lives defined by the results of matches played in mostly empty, echoing stadiums.

The matches are different, there can be no ignoring that. There are fewer mistakes, far fewer late goals, while home advantage has been eradicated.

“It’s football, Jim, but not as we know it,” quips Homer.

At least there is light at the end of the tunnel, a chance the final two rounds of Premier League fixtures could be played in front of sizeable crowds. There may even be some matches selected as test events prior to then.

But eager though he is himself to get back watching the Baggies, Homer is among those who believe the limited return of crowds before the end of this season would be a “token gesture”.

He explained: “For me, it is all or nothing. I’d rather wait till next season when we can all go back.

“What if they say we can come back and we are already relegated? I don’t want to attend a pointless dead rubber.”

The latter point, you suspect, has been discussed at clubs currently battling relegation. Much as they need supporters back, the prospect of reopening their doors to a large-scale protest in the final week of the campaign is not exactly desirable.

Amid the optimism, there remains huge uncertainty. Clubs who have learned to exist without supporters will soon get an answer to the question which has lingered in the background since turnstiles were first closed. Namely, when fans are allowed back, will they return in the same number?

“It’s the great unknown,” says Homer. “The thing we can never forget, first and foremost, is we have lost people to this disease.

“You have people who have lost their jobs and perhaps can’t afford to go back. Others have broken the habit of a lifetime.

“There are also questions over safety, vaccination or no vaccination. I’ve no doubt there will be some people perhaps a little reticent about mixing with 20,000 others. Like so many things at the moment, nobody really knows how it is going to play out.”