With a rather drab scoreless draw this evening - between Aston Villa and Sheffield United, in the Premiership.

No crowd and absolutely no atmosphere. One has to really wonder whether this sterile format can last - with fist bumps instead of hugs!

And 91 more games await us, in 40 days - together with European and Cup matches. Only the most avid of fans could stomach this training ground type contest.



But TV money calls the shots - as all 20 EPL teams are contracted to finish the league.

For which they each receive in excess of £100 million in TV revenue alone, every year.

Making spectators somewhat secondary, from a strictly financial standpoint.

Without them however - football becomes something else.

I agree Barney. In theory after weeks of starvation I was really looking forward to some football, and tried telling myself to just forget the crowd issue. Impossible.

Made me realise that the shared experience is what sport is; not just one aspect of it.

I will follow my clubs fortunes until spectators return, but that won't involve spending 90 mins of a day watching it currently....