Fans without football have been left staring into a howling void | Jonathan Liew

With the singing crowd silenced, supporters are taking to virtual outlets to unleash their reservoirs of rage

Complete the following phrase: football without fans is … In the current climate, it can feel like the only acceptable response is “nothing”. This is a conceit in which we are all, to greater or lesser degrees, complicit. Not least in the media, where certain journalists have built entire careers on exalting the intrinsic nobility of the humble matchgoing supporter while sitting in their complimentary press box seats consuming free food. Without fans, the game is nothing. It simply ceases to exist. It’s a travesty. Send tweet. Eat sandwich.

Except that is not quite true, is it? At least, certainly not on the evidence of the last few months. The players and staff certainly care just as much. The levels of effort do not appear to have dropped, even if the levels of performance appear increasingly erratic. Most importantly of all, football is still happening. The cameras are still running. We’re still talking about it. Football without fans may well be colder, stranger, less lovable, less equitable and by most measures less good. But it’s not nothing.

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