Written By Hannah

Around  4,000 fans  were  admitted  to the  90,000-capacity  stadium on Sunday for the FA Cup semi-final tie between Leicester and Southampton , which s aw the first Wembley crowd in over a year .       These  select few  were  chosen  from the local area , many of which were key-workers, as part of the Government’s Events Research Programme . Fans had to complete a rapid COVID-19 test before  entering the stadium , with masks and social distancing also a mandatory condition on arrival.      This comes as the  first of many trials for the  safe  return of football  fans and marked   the largest  Wembley  crowd since the 2020 Caraboa Cup Final.  Fans witnessed Leicester  reach their first FA Cup final in  over 50 years with their 1-0 victory over Southampton.     Those  in attendance are also expected to complete a further COVID test five d...

A year on from the start of the pandemic, fans have barely stepped foot through the turnstiles of their local football club. On the 13th March 2020, the FA, Premier League and English Football League (EFL) suspended all of their fixtures until 3rd April 2020 at the earliest. The financial consequences of 12 months behind-closed-doors are to be potentially catastrophic for some clubs in England.   The announcement of all football being suspended was an inevitable side effect` of a grossly expanding epidemic in Britain, but the extent to which professional football in England would suffer could not have been predicted. English football had been consistently growing and developing into a more sustainable entity via its continued attraction of investors, sponsors, advertisers and media giants, but the arrival of COVID-19 in the U.K. put a halt on such progression.   Deloitte’s financial review of the 2018/19 season, published in June 2020, included reports from the Footb...

Empty stadiums have become a reality for sports fans over the last twelve months since the rapid development of Britain’s COVID-19 crisis. As cases of the virus began to rise exponentially in March 2020, English football was entirely paused from the grassroots level up to the highest tiers of elite football, leaving behind vacant stadia up and down the country. These hollow shells, once riddled with camaraderie and rattled by the deep bass choruses of supporters, have since remained dormant. Other than a brief stint of limited capacity attendances in the hazy period of ‘tier two’ restrictions,  most players have not performed in front of fans at all since last March. With this has come a change in the fundamentals of club football as home advantage has become almost entirely redundant across the top leagues. A Reuters report published before English football’s restart last June revealed that 56 ‘ghost games’ in Germany saw a 21% drop in home wins, while visitors were unbeaten in ar...

AC Milan, Arsenal, Atlético Madrid, Chelsea, Barcelona, Inter Milan, Juventus, Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Real Madrid and Tottenham Hotspur have been confirmed as the founding members of a new European Super League (ESL), which is set to commence ‘as soon as practicable’.  In a statement released late on 18th April, the ESL described the new venture as a ‘midweek competition’, with a further three teams still to be confirmed to complete the 15-team permanent core of the league. These ‘founding members’ would be a mainstay in the league, with no possibility of qualification or relegation. The press release also claimed that this competition would run alongside regular league competitions, despite strong condemnation from UEFA, the FA and the Premier League. A supporting women’s competition is also set to be established “as soon as practicable.” UEFA, and fellow governing giants FIFA, have criticised the new Americanised format due to its shallow and money-driven ...

A tale as old as time – mankind needs to watch twenty-two sweaty athletes kick a ball for ninety minutes to maintain sanity.    In the midst of a global pandemic, the days have rolled into a monotonous series of boredom and mild hysteria. Watching my favourite team, or even my least favourite, has become a welcome dose of unpredictable, spontaneous entertainment in a generally dull and subdued time.   March 2020 – the national month of hand soap and loo roll. Amongst the panicked shoppers and lockdown banana bread-makers, the general mood of the nation was relatively hopeful. I was similarly positive as I naively thought the postponement of all football was just a reasonable precaution and we would be back in the stands by summertime. Well, how could I have predicted that a year later I would not have smelt another cup of Bovril or got an earache from an angry, potty-mouthed fan beside me.    When the Premier League returned with ‘Project Restart’ in June 2020, ...

After 75 minutes of quality attacking football and defending at both ends of the Etihad, Aston Villa fell victim to yet another VAR controversy. 19 days after their last match across the city at Old Trafford, Villa were lively and confident in their display against title challengers City, who were beaming following nine games unbeaten in the league. A wet and windy Manchester made for a turbulent but exciting fixture. Ross Barkley made his way back onto the team sheet for the first time since his early injury at home to Brighton on 21st November 2020. The players were rested, but there were doubts on match sharpness and fitness, which Dean Smith and his men were undoubtedly hoping to dismiss.  An open and end-to-end first half included an impressive early-on save from Martinez, and some dangerous counter-attacks that unfortunately failed to come to fruition. A premature substitution for City welcomed Zinchenko for the injured Kyle Walker, while Villa tried to capitalise on attackin...

Everyone is ending the year with the exact same sentiment - 2020 was shit. This year has challenged each of us in different ways, and forced us into a way of living so far from what we as humans are used to. A global pandemic really does change your perspective on things. I have spent this year sleeping, working, eating, then sleeping again. I have seen so little of my loved ones, spent so little time doing things I enjoy, and have probably grown a lot because of it. There are very few positives I can take from this year, other than the fact that I will never take life's pleasures for granted again.  In 2020 I got my first freelance role, worked all the way through the pandemic and all of its lockdowns in the NHS (no saving lives, unfortunately, but plenty of clinical letters) and got a first in my second year of university. These are my biggest and only achievements - and that is okay. Work was my only distraction and is what kept me sane in a year when I really could have crumble...