Fingers are, of course, crossed that the new season will bring a return to some kind of normality with football once again as it should be – with fans in the stadium.
Looking ahead to that possibility, manager Chris Beech said: “All we can do is say thank you to everybody for their patience.
“We had great support from our fans that were with us before Christmas, the chosen few that were allowed. I really look forward to seeing them helping us to put pressure on opponents, and put pressure on our own players to perform.
“I think football is a game to be shared and for getting goosebumps on the neck, for feeling great when you’ve scored or run past two or three players. It makes you run back in faster when you hear a roar and reaction to something.
“Whether it’s a positive or negative response, you’re going to react. That’s just human nature. I’m looking forward to having everybody back, I thank them for the bits they’ve been able to watch.”
“I do thank them for their patience because I watch a lot of EFL League Two games and they are difficult to watch on TV, they really are,” he conceded. “It’s just the way it is. When they are actually here with us they’ll get to see the full picture.
“The players will probably be more thankful they can’t hear me and the supporters can see it with their own eyes and make their own opinions.
“It’s a fact that people perform better in front of fans, they share feelings and emotions within the 90 minutes. Players have to keep their nerve and they feed off it.
“I think fans being here this season would have taken us to even greater heights, because they’d have helped us. It was great when they were in, we heard the noise and the impact that made.
“We had an atmosphere, then it was taken away from us, and even that was tough for us to take. We’ll now look forward to a real, tough, hard, enjoyable pre-season so that we can get ready for the new season, which hopefully we will share with our great supporters.”
