Fans returned to stadiums last night in Tier One and Tier Two areas across England but Charlton manager Lee Bowyer criticised their fans saying they were “too quiet” and “negative”.
I managed to talk to Dan Kilpatrick from the Evening Standard who was at the game last night and said that “I admire Bowyer’s honesty, he always speaks his mind, but I think on this occasion that he got it wrong.
“It’s not easy to create an atmosphere with so few fans and while socially distancing and wearing face masks and I think they generally reacted to what they were seeing from the team was standard behaviour”.
Kilpatrick went onto add “He loved being there, it has been so easy to become accustomed to empty stadiums and it was genuinely stirring to hear all the familiar reactions from the crowd, even the groans”. This is refreshing to hear with the return of fans vital to provide an atmosphere whether good or bad for the team to play to react to.
Phil Daley from BBC Radio Norfolk was in attendance at Luton’s victory over Championship leaders Norwich last night, with the hosts receiving two penalties calling into question whether referees can be influenced by the return of crowds albeit only a couple of thousand of them.
Daley said “It’s always hard to tell whether referees are affected by fans, but I think that the Luton players were certainly fired up by the fans and there are plenty of people suggesting that they had an impact on the referee as well.
“There were some contentious decisions and I wouldn’t be surprised if it did (the return of fans) did have an impact on the referee with two penalties given in front of the home fans”.
After Boris Johnson put different parts of the country into Tiers one, two and three, with Tier three unable to have fans back in stadiums it’s posed the question should the return of fans wait until every team is able to have fans back.
“I can completely understand why teams in those tiers that can’t have fans will feel hard done by because home advantage just isn’t the same without fans, while we all think that footballers should be able to do it in front one person or one hundred thousand people it’s not quite like that in reality”.
Overall Daley is relishing fans being back in the stadium especially ahead of Norwich’s home fixture in the league on Saturday.
“It just doesn’t sounds as good without the fans there it feels soulless without the fans there, the emotion, excitement, anticipation and all the emotions that come with football, when we talk about atmosphere inside the ground, without fans nerves, hopes, dreams, joys and disappointments.
“The whole emotion of football disappears a little bit, there’s obviously 22 men on the field who are happy or sad but its not replicated in the stands, purely from a work side of things you definitely miss it, but football as a whole, how can you not miss it? We’ve really really missed it and it’ll make a huge difference when they’re back (at Carrow Road)”.
Finally I spoke to Owen Mizon who works for Cambridge United who surprisingly fell to their first home defeat of the season last night losing 1-0 to Mansfield.
“It’s a funny one really. Cambridge United were previously unbeaten at home in the league all season, therefore losing that record on the first game back for fans was a real shame. Nonetheless, I couldn’t help but feel the players would be galvanised playing in front of fans again, especially when you consider the clear advantage that there’s strictly home fans.
“I can’t help but feel yesterday was an anomaly, the fans were in good spirits and it certainly spurred the players on in the second half”.
All in all, apart from an outburst by Lee Bowyer, everybody is seeming to relish the opportunity of fans returning to stadiums and it will be interesting to see whether it has a massive impact over the weekend with results of teams who are struggling but have brought fans back into the stadium.
