Football is nothing without fans

On the Stretford End at the Library of Dreams, Old Trafford, hangs a sign that says ‘Football is nothing without fans’. It was a quote from their legendary manager Sir Matt Busby and it’s as true today as whenever it was he said it. I observed it when the BBC screened Manchester United’s FA Cup win against Liverpool, a result that left me in a very bad mood for literally minutes.

I had watched the first half without the fake crowd noise and despite the high levels of skill on the pitch the absence of a real crowd made it seem like a practice match. When the goals went in, all you could hear were the shouts and strangulated yelps of the players.

Because it was Liverpool, I maintained a decent level of interest because, for reasons I don’t quite understand I really, really like them. I could not possibly be considered a supporter because I don’t come from Liverpool, have no familial links with the place and I never go to their games. But no matter how hard I tried, Busby’s quote held true. Football was nothing without fans.

In ‘normal’ years – remember them? – I might watch a selection of games on Sky and BT involving teams in whom I had no interest. I have always found it hard to watch domestic football when I had no feelings either way as to who might win. In fact, it was usually wanting certain teams, like those managed by Sam Allardyce or Colin Wanker (Neil Warnock), to lose. Now, I can’t even find the enthusiasm to do that.

Take today. The Premier League has generously allowed the BBC to screen live the game between West Bromwich Albion and Fulham. Why on earth would I wish to spend a couple of hours in my armchair watching that? As this moment in time, I barely have a positive feeling in my very being. I am not sure desperately hoping for WBA to lose would improve my state of mind, even if they did. (I hope they do, mind.)

I don’t know why and how Premier League or any kind of so called ‘elite’ sport should continue right now. We’re still in the midst of a deathly virus which continues to kill over a thousand people a day. Having Fulham travel to West Brom today doesn’t strike me as what the government would call an essential journey.

Having said that, most people don’t agree with me. Over nine million people tuned into…coughs…Man Ure’s victory over Liverpool on the BBC so perhaps football without fans is worth persevering with. I suppose it is because my formative years were spent at the dilapidated Eastville stadium, where thousands gathered to watch Bristol Rovers, next to the gasworks and the River Frome, with this strange family of total strangers who every couple of weeks gathered to cheer their team to victory. That was where I learned that no matter who owned the club in financial, it was really ours and they couldn’t manage without us.

Since the Premier League came along, it has been said that it didn’t need actual supporters on the terraces and in the stands, such was the power of TV money. The coronavirus has proven that to be true, but only in terms of money. Football really is nothing without fans and if the pandemic is with us for years, rather than months, it may well have to manage without us, certainly in large numbers, for the foreseeable future.