62 THINGS WE CAN’T WAIT TO SEE THIS SEASON
01 RECORD ATTENDANCES
The click of the turnstiles. The wafting scents of a burger van. The hubbub of a crowd. Oh, how we’ve missed you so.
Back in March 2020, perhaps we all took that experience for granted. Not since the Second World War had the matchday ritual been interrupted, and few foresaw a reason why it ever would be again. Then the world changed, and football grounds closed.
Last season set attendance records that may never be broken... but for all the wrong reasons. The Premier League’s average turnout was just 461 – a figure that would have been even lower, had crowds of up to 10,000 not been allowed in for the final two matchdays in May. Liverpool, situated in one of the regions permitted to briefly welcome 2,000 fans in December, topped the charts with a season average of 837.
IN SCOTLAND’S TOP FLIGHT, THE AVERAGE CROWD WAS JUST THREE
In the EFL, the surprise attendance leaders were League Two Carlisle, who had four home fixtures during that December amnesty, plus a 1,000-capacity test event in September. Their average crowd for the campaign was 391, dwarfing the League Two figure of 78 – itself still higher than the Championship average of 56, and 47 for League One.
In the Scottish Premiership, the average crowd, incredibly, was three – Aberdeen and Ross County each hosted 300 fans during test events, while 50 ghostly souls were registered for St Mirren vs Livingston.
Fans across the UK were able to watch their teams play on television or iFollow, but it just wasn’t the same. No community, no atmosphere. Fake crowd noise might just haunt us all for a little while longer yet.
For 33 EFL clubs, however, August will mark their first home game with fans for 17 months. In Brentford and AFC Wimbledon’s cases, fans may be able to fill – or even visit – their new stadiums for the first time.
After so many supporters were deprived of the matchday experience for so long, this time attendances could break records for all the right reasons. Euro 2020 showed what sort of atmosphere crowds like that might produce, such is the enthusiasm about this grand return to grounds.
Football is nothing without fans – a phrase that’s been uttered so often in recent times. But it’s just true. Finally, they’re back baby.
02 BUFFON BACK AT PARMA
In the summer of 2001, Gianluigi Buffon left Parma for Juventus for €52m – a world record transfer fee for a goalkeeper that stood for 17 years until Alisson’s £67m move to Liverpool in 2018. Two decades later, Gigi’s gone full circle. Aged 43, Buffon has rejoined Parma, the club where he won the UEFA Cup in 1999. The Gialloblu are now in Serie B… but not everyone’s thrilled about his return. “You left as a mercenary, you cannot return as a hero,” one banner read. Guiding Parma back up may just change those opinions.
03 A NON-LEAGUE SEASON THAT FINISHES IN FULL
The pandemic has created non-league chaos in each of the past two seasons – the National League was curtailed in 2019-20, with lower levels declared null and void. COVID got in the way again last term as many divisions were cancelled after just a few games, while even the National Leagues North and South were voided. The fifth tier carried on without Dover, who withdrew mid-season for financial reasons, so start this term with a controversial 12-point deduction. Smoothly does it from here.
04 SCOTTISH CLUBS TO FINALLY CRACK EUROPE
Since 2007-08, only two Scottish sides have reached the group stage of a European competition – Rangers and Celtic. Aberdeen made the UEFA Cup’s group stage 14 years ago, but since then the Dons, Motherwell, Hearts, Hibernian, Dundee United, St Johnstone, Kilmarnock, Inverness, Falkirk and Queen of the South have all failed. St Johnstone must win two rounds to reach the Europa League group stage this year, while Hibs and Aberdeen have been taking part in Conference League qualifying. Success is overdue...
05 A FOUR-WAY TITLE BATTLE
WHEREVER THE TROPHY ENDS UP, IT LOOKS LIKE IT’S GOING TO BE MUCH CLOSER THAN LAST TIME
Nine teams topped the Premier League table last season. Arsenal were first on the opening day – by virtue of having the early kick-off – before Tottenham, Everton and Liverpool put in early bids for glory. Also climbing to the summit were Manchester United and Chelsea, while Southampton and Leicester also threatened to tear up the script in a frantic opening salvo.
In the end, a strikerless Manchester City mercilessly marched towards immortality after storming to the top in January and planting their flag with a smirk. From there, open season became a closed case.
But if history has taught us anything, it’s that teams have to fight tooth, nail and Vincent Kompany rockets if they want to retain their titles. City racked up 98 points in 2018-19 – ending that year with a relentless romp of 13 consecutive wins – just to hold a 97-point Liverpool side at arm’s length. Sometimes, it takes something pretty damn special to keep the challengers at bay.
No doubt, Pep Guardiola has spent all summer in his bunker, concocting plans of how to stay on the throne. His last tactical innovation of playing with false nines was the most Guardiolan philosophy yet – so how could he possibly top it? Fielding midfielders across the whole pitch and reinventing Total Football? Or going full circle, signing Harry Kane and sticking it to the targetman?
Well, in the end it may well just be a bit of all the above: City will likely be prepared for a patient game of brinkmanship with Spurs over Kane this summer; failing that, when Daniel Levy says no for a 64th time, Ferran Torres could be shunted forward to let rip.
In the blue corner – well, the slightly darker blue – Pep may well have met his match in Thomas Tuchel; a man who’s so forensically studious that he beat City three times in the five months after arriving in England. Chelsea have the deadly combination of a tactical boffin in the dugout and an owner prepared to pump in his billions wherever they’re required. It’ll be five years next May since John Terry lifted the latest Premier League trophy earned in west London – that’s an ice age in footballing years. Quite reasonably, Tuchel will be targeting domestic dominance this time around.
Manchester United, meanwhile, are playing the role of noisy neighbours these days. This is arguably the most electrifying team that we’ve seen post-Sir Alex – not that difficult admittedly, but now worth discussing with quality across the pitch and depth in key areas. After finally landing Jadon Sancho following a year of chat-up lines, perhaps Ole Gunnar Solskjaer finally has that missing weapon to fight City with every stride now – a little like how Virgil van Dijk transformed Liverpool from competitors to world beaters.
He’s back, by the way. The Dutchman spent his summer snubbing the Euros in favour of returning stronger for Liverpool, and is now looking to make roughly the same impact as when he first strolled into an unkempt and inconsistent Reds side. Misfortune dogged Jurgen Klopp’s side last time around – surely football’s pesky mischief-makers will be much kinder this time. Ibrahima Konaté has come in to strengthen the defence, Diogo Jota should thrive in his first full campaign at Anfield, while Thiago is now up to speed with the English game. Most importantly, the Kop’s red wall will be back in place.
Whichever direction those silver handles are pulled towards, this looks like it’s going to be a lot closer than last time. The big four are packed full of talent, but each have their weaknesses and there are plenty of banana skins along this road. Is Nuno Espirito Santo just what Spurs needed to launch their first assault at the top four in three seasons, for example? Can Leicester finally bridge that agonising gap to the elite, having fallen at the last for two seasons running? Are the ambitious Aston Villa or a Rafa-led Everton capable of applying some more pressure?
Four clubs have strong cases for the crown, with bookies shortening their odds on all of them. Another four or five have the quality to ruffle feathers and have a say. This one could well be going down to the wire.
06 BUKAYO SAKA TO DAZZLE FOR ARSENAL
Arsenal’s teenage utility man became the latest England star to be crippled by penalty heartbreak – but try letting that stop the Gunners’ boy wonder shining
Despite doubts over whether he would even make Gareth Southgate’s England squad, Bukayo Saka starred during the Three Lions’ Euros campaign before his heartbreaking penalty miss in the final.
It was a particularly cruel way – aged 19, as his country’s fifth penalty taker to keep them in their biggest game
