Another year till we see fans in Premier League stadiums?
While the Premier League is set to restart behind closed doors next month, we could have to wait up to a year to see fans back in the seats again.
We’ve all been waiting patiently for football to return – 2 months to be exact. While those 2 months did go by rather quickly for some, we were still missing a big part of our lives in football. Now, it’s back, at least partly, with the Bundesliga kicking off this past weekend with no fans in seats.
Our wait for Premier League football is also nearing its end, with the league set to kick off in mid-June with the aim of wrapping up the 2019-20 season, which is almost confirmed to be won by Liverpool.
However, we might have another wait on our hands even after football returns – the wait to have things back to normal, with tens of thousands of loud supporters filling the seats.
The Daily Mail reports that Premier League clubs have been warned that they could have to wait a year to have fans at their matches. This is a significant blow to each and every club, as they all rely quite a bit on matchday revenue to sustain their current financial health.
I watched a bit of the Dortmund match. Felt like a glorified practice game, though less physical, & lack of a crowd massively reduced the enjoyment factor for me.
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) May 16, 2020
If the Premier Leage returns like this, it’s not going to be real football - so why bother?
The Premier League’s medical advisor Mark Gillett has stated the following:
"‘It’s very clear the public and social health situation is not going to change in the next six to 12 months. It is important that people understand that they will have to see these cultural changes.’"
This makes it quite clear that football simply will not be the same for a long, long time. If you watched any of the Bundesliga fixtures this weekend, which I’m sure you did, you probably noticed a much less exciting vibe to the matches.
This is almost solely due to the lack of fans. While artificial noise will likely be put in place with the aim of recreating the atmosphere somewhat, it simply isn’t the same for us as fans watching on TV, and it definitely isn’t the same for the players, as the atmosphere of the stadium normally influences the outcome of the match.
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Hopefully things go smoothly when the Premier League restarts next month, but don’t expect things to go back to normal for at least another year.