Having expressed the excitement and anticipation I was feeling ahead of the return to football in my last column, it is fair to say that what I experienced lived up to the expectation and more.
When I got to Kenilworth Road, the excitement was mixed with a few nerves, not truly knowing what to expect, given that we are still deep in a pandemic, after all. I had faith that the club would have left no stone unturned but in these abnormal times you never truly know until you’ve experienced everything.
I wasn’t sure how different the football attending experience would be with all the protocols in place, but actually with the exception of a slower entrance into the stadium, not too much changed. In fact, if you had been to an FA Trophy or Checkatrade Trophy game in the past, the match experience would have felt relatively normal.
The main point of the evening was safety. That was always paramount and I have to say from the temperature check ahead of entering the stadium to the sanitising stations inside it, I felt perfectly safe throughout the whole evening, which is a credit to all concerned.
If anything, the tightening of movement within the stadium due to social distancing enhanced everything, as the anticipation built nicely while the players were warning up. Seeing footballers in the flesh was not lost on anyone.
The other thing of interest ahead of the match was the reaction that manager Nathan Jones would get. That was extremely positive, as was the 90 minutes which followed.
They say you don’t know what you miss until it has gone, and quite often it is the simple things that you miss most.
That was the case with me. Things like the click of the turnstiles, the first roar of “MAN ON!” when a Town player was put under pressure, the sound of anticipation when the Town get a corner and, of course, the songs. How I’d missed not singing and shouting songs over the last nine months!
Just being back at football would have sufficed, but the performance put on by the team, and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in particular, was something to marvel at. Seeing the Leicester loanee put on a masterclass in the fresh air made it an honour to be there in itself. His performance so good that he deserves a lot more than a few words, so maybe he can be the subject of my next column!
Ultimately though the night wasn’t just about me or the other 999 ‘Ambassadors’ who were in attendance, it was about opening the door to more fans for the Preston game next weekend and beyond, and the start of a return to normality. I really hope that objective was achieved.
I left the Kenny having felt perfectly safe and overjoyed to be back. I am already looking forward to getting back in there, whenever that may be.
