James Shield's Sheffield United Column: Thank the fans? Flick them two fingers more like

Or, by and large, have they simply revealed their true colours? Confirmed suspicions that fans, despite all the schmaltzy messages of love and solidarity being pumped out by PR departments across the division during the Covid-19 pandemic, really don’t feature at the top of their priority lists. In fact, they can probably be found way, way down the roll call of people and institutions owners and chairpeople want to cosy up too.

This weekend marks the return of supporters to 10 of the competition’s 20 grounds for the first time since social distancing restrictions imposed to try and curb the spread of the virus were relaxed. The other 10 dusted down and reopened their turnstiles earlier this week; Newcastle included, who beat Sheffield United 1-0.

The shame is, after spending the best part of 15 months being told they are the lifeblood of the beautiful game in this country, most of those fortunate enough to get tickets paid handsomely for the privilege. Which, from where I’m standing, confirms many of those in charge of running teams really don’t get it. That their first instinct - and yes, we all get the importance of being sensible with money after experiencing furlough, pay cuts and in many cases redundancy - is to look after the balance sheet rather than the lads or ladettes who in many cases make great personal sacrifices to follow their sides up and down the country.

Fair enough, the financial climate further down the pyramid is so damn bleak that the overwhelming majority of English Football League outfits can be excused for charging full whack or as near as dammit. But at the highest level, where executives routinely pat themselves on the back for creating the type of revenue creating machine that would make Gordon Gekko jealous, surely there’s enough swishing around in the pot to let their most loyal followers in the gratis or at a heavily subsidised rate? After all, we’re constantly told what great business gurus sit in PL boardrooms. That these supposedly gifted high-rollers are some of the most astute wheeler dealers on the planet with intelligence levels which dwarf the size of the bank accounts. (You only have to look at some of the nonsense being spewed by government ministers lately to understand there’s no correlation between brains and bunce).

In fairness, United aren’t the biggest offenders when it comes to this issue. Tottenham Hotspur demanded £20 more, around 60 notes, to attend Wednesday’s defeat by Aston Villa. Okay, they tried to sweeten what was a pretty bitter pill by handing out free grub beforehand. If I was of a Spurs persuasion, and been among the crowd, I know where I’d have liked to shove my pepperoni. And it wouldn’t have been in Daniel Levy’s mouth.

Okay, clubs have been hurting. Yes, they’ll have some tough decisions to make. But, as the season prepares to draw to a close, I’d wager double the combined transfer fees of Harry Kane and Sander Berge that most of the men and women, who appear to be getting little or no thanks for their loyalty, have been hurting a lot more as they grapple with the consequences of the global health crisis.