What was it like to be back?

[Exeter 77]

I was disappointed by the few who booed when the players took the knee but it was immediately and rightly drowned out by applause. The lack of mask wearing where I was made me feel a bit apprehensive. It did seem to be mostly middle-aged males. I found it quite emotional when the players came out of the tunnel just before kick off.

[Holte132]

Great afternoon. No problems getting in - really speedy - and I've never made it down from the back of the Upper Holte as quickly as I did today! You could hear the laughter in the voices when we were singing 'Shit support, my Lord'!

[Pete3206]

People leaving early? That's surely up to them?

[Richard E]

The thing that made it even better was that it felt like a step back towards normality in life generally.

[shirley_villan]

Minor gripe that the stewards either forgot to open, or didn’t tell close the door at top of the stand to street level from the Upper Witton Lane. Meant a bunch of us having to go back up the stairs. Wouldn’t be great if it was full. Thought everything went really well otherwise but hardly any mask wearing once people were seated (near me anyway).

[astonvilla82]

Normally leave early, but stayed, getting the train back to south Birmingham is hard work, especially on a wet Sunday afternoon

[Ad@m]

People leaving early? That's surely up to them?

Of course it is, but given the result was in the balance and the fact that there was no traffic, deliberately missing the end is more than a bit odd.

[Villafirst]

A bit surreal walking towards the Holte End, then up the steps into the Holte upper tier. Noise levels were really loud, especially Hi Ho Aston Villa! I feel so lucky to have been there and the result was great of course! A perfect return only slightly dampened by Chelsea qualifying for the Champions League on the back of Leicester's defeat to Spurs.

[Ger Regan]

Massive respect to the fans who drowned out the booing, massive fuck yous to anyone who booed.

[dave.woodhall]

People leaving early? That's surely up to them?

Of course it is, but given the result was in the balance and the fact that there was no traffic, deliberately missing the end is more than a bit odd.

Maybe they were worried about leaving in a crowd?

[Ad@m]

People leaving early? That's surely up to them?

Of course it is, but given the result was in the balance and the fact that there was no traffic, deliberately missing the end is more than a bit odd.

Maybe they were worried about leaving in a crowd?

Which would make more sense if there was one!

10k spread around the whole of VP isn't much of a crowd at all.

[dave.woodhall]

People leaving early? That's surely up to them?

Of course it is, but given the result was in the balance and the fact that there was no traffic, deliberately missing the end is more than a bit odd.

Maybe they were worried about leaving in a crowd?

Which would make more sense if there was one!

10k spread around the whole of VP isn't much of a crowd at all.

It's still more people than they've probably been around for over a year.

[Risso]

It's still more people than they've probably been around for over a year.

If it was that much of a worry than surely they wouldn't have gone in the first place.

[dave.woodhall]

It's still more people than they've probably been around for over a year.

If it was that much of a worry than surely they wouldn't have gone in the first place.

And maybe they wanted to minimise the risk, or make sure they got on the bus, or any one of a dozen reasons, none of which are anything to do with the rest of us.

[SoccerHQ]

Minor gripe that the stewards either forgot to open, or didn’t tell close the door at top of the stand to street level from the Upper Witton Lane. Meant a bunch of us having to go back up the stairs. Wouldn’t be great if it was full. Thought everything went really well otherwise but hardly any mask wearing once people were seated (near me anyway).

TBF when I'm on the train and there's no one else close by in the carriage I lower it for a bit if the glasses are steaming up a bit too much, guess it depends on how close they were to others in the ground. Or ignorance. And virus thankfully dosen't travel as much in open air.

What was it like at half time, could you mill around concourse/use the bogs/go out to vape? Seems like more of a normal matchday experience than what they did for trial events last December so feels promising for next season.