Excuse the Drake reference in the title, but just wanted to openly share some thoughts on being 'back' last night, for anyone that couldn't make it.
For starters it was weird having to order your drinks at the table in the Pawsons, and even weirder having space to just roam around and go straight into the bogs without a queue!
No real 'buzz' around the ground, everything very subdued, staff making sure you wore a mask when walking past the main stand (despite being outside). All felt very pre-season friendly-ish.
Eerily quiet Red & Blue bar in the upper Holmesdale, no alcohol contributing to that of course, or perhaps people just opting to go and watch the players warm up for the first time in ages.
Hard to get any songs going for longer than 30 seconds. Say what you want about the drum, but it keeps things in rhythm and going for longer. Could have started with a "Roy Hodgson's Red & Blue Army" for the first 10 minutes but most of the songbook had been exhausted by then. In fact the loudest song of the evening was about Andy Johnson.
Weird not having any away fans and just silence when Arsenal scored. Makes the goals easier to stomach admittedly but the banter between fans definitely makes things more exciting (we won't go into what happened in the Whitehorse).
I think the Eze news earlier in the day definitely put a dampener on things. I can imagine many fans were looking forward to seeing him in the flesh for the first time and now looks like we might not get that chance until next year.
Then the realisation that the next time we're all back next season, the team and club will be barely recognisable. A new manager in the dugout, a completely revamped team (needed, unavoidable, but still so improbable).
The past 14 months have been difficult and different for everyone, and personally I feel more disconnected from the club than ever. It's a pivotal time in our history that could go one of two ways, and whilst the time needs to be taken to get a new manager in, we can't sit around for too long and get left behind as we need to start planning for next season ASAP, and I can imagine that Eze's injury has thrown any plans we may have already had in place into disarray.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud. Keen to hear other people's thoughts on the above whether you feel the same or if being back last night was something you really enjoyed and loved? For me it all just felt a bit 'False'.
For starters it was weird having to order your drinks at the table in the Pawsons, and even weirder having space to just roam around and go straight into the bogs without a queue!
No real 'buzz' around the ground, everything very subdued, staff making sure you wore a mask when walking past the main stand (despite being outside). All felt very pre-season friendly-ish.
Eerily quiet Red & Blue bar in the upper Holmesdale, no alcohol contributing to that of course, or perhaps people just opting to go and watch the players warm up for the first time in ages.
Hard to get any songs going for longer than 30 seconds. Say what you want about the drum, but it keeps things in rhythm and going for longer. Could have started with a "Roy Hodgson's Red & Blue Army" for the first 10 minutes but most of the songbook had been exhausted by then. In fact the loudest song of the evening was about Andy Johnson.
Weird not having any away fans and just silence when Arsenal scored. Makes the goals easier to stomach admittedly but the banter between fans definitely makes things more exciting (we won't go into what happened in the Whitehorse).
I think the Eze news earlier in the day definitely put a dampener on things. I can imagine many fans were looking forward to seeing him in the flesh for the first time and now looks like we might not get that chance until next year.
Then the realisation that the next time we're all back next season, the team and club will be barely recognisable. A new manager in the dugout, a completely revamped team (needed, unavoidable, but still so improbable).
The past 14 months have been difficult and different for everyone, and personally I feel more disconnected from the club than ever. It's a pivotal time in our history that could go one of two ways, and whilst the time needs to be taken to get a new manager in, we can't sit around for too long and get left behind as we need to start planning for next season ASAP, and I can imagine that Eze's injury has thrown any plans we may have already had in place into disarray.
Anyway, I'm just thinking out loud. Keen to hear other people's thoughts on the above whether you feel the same or if being back last night was something you really enjoyed and loved? For me it all just felt a bit 'False'.
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