Last season was unprecedented in football, no fans all season, none of the lift the fans give but also none of the pressure that comes with playing in front of fans.
Players were playing in a goldfish bowel devoid of the natural pressure that fans generate both good and bad.
The anxiety, the passion, the positivity, all of it.
In the past our players have really struggled with pressure when it maters most, playoff defeats, end of seasons collapses, cup final and semi final defeats, and this goes back decades to the Revie side.
A 9th place finish in front of no fans doesnt mean that we can just assume all will be well this season, players will improve, new signings will come into their own, the board are absolutely convinced this will happen based on last season, they have reiterated this more than once and have used it to defend the transfer policy this summer.
The problem is last season wasnt normal, this season is, our teams have collapsed under pressure before, its far from guaranteed that it wont happen again and taking it for granted as our board are could be a dreadful mistake imo.
Not saying it will happen just that it is far from an impossibility and this continuation or improvement that is expected could be totally derailed by the simple fact fans bring pressure and players cant cope.
I am sceptical that players like Cooper, Bamford, Ayling etc had the season of their lives with no fans when we have seen before that pressure really does get to them ( we even saw it today with Cooper)
