So, whereabouts did you end up?
The government announced yesterday what tiers people around the country are going to be in for the foreseeable future, and as a result whether or not we’ll be allowed to go back into games. Thankfully London was placed in Tier 2, which means that fans will be allowed to watch games at Craven Cottage, starting with the game against Liverpool on the 12th of December.
It should be pointed out (and credit to the Fulham Supporters Trust for their work in all this) that we probably won’t be allowed to go to the upper limit when it comes to supporters because of access restrictions as well as what is going on with the Riverside stand, but you can make the argument it’s better than nothing.
However, the question now becomes whether or not it is a good thing. For those lucky fans, almost certainly, the last time most of them would have watched a game at Craven Cottage would have been the 1-1 draw with Preston North End back in February.
Will you be trying to go back to games when given the chance?
Yes
No
For the players though, it’s a bit of a different matter. It was something discussed on the Fulham Focus podcast, about whether or not fans being back in will mean more pressure on the players to perform because they’ll have someone to hold them accountable. Can you imagine for instance what the reaction would have been to Everton’s first goal at the weekend if fans were there.
Would it have spurred the players on? Or would it have just made things worse. The podcast hosts both put forward reasonable arguments on the matter and you can certainly see both sides of it. I personally think that the fans will have some impact, and I don’t think that they’ll be on the player’s backs too much, hopefully because they’ll just be so happy to be back seeing the Whites in action that they can’t stay mad at them for too long.
What about you? Do you think that having fans back in grounds will have an impact on the players? Or do you think things will remain pretty much the same?