Fans return to stadium would boost Inverness Caledonian Thistle says Daniel MacKay
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Inverness Caledonian Thistle attacker Daniel MacKay is keeping his fingers crossed that supporters are allowed back into grounds again soon.
Under the new Scottish Government guidelines that will be implemented next week, areas in the bottom two levels of the five-tier system could see fans return to stadia in limited numbers, with social distancing in place.
Although the majority of the country is expected to be put into level two or higher, it was not ruled out on Tuesday that the Highlands could be placed straight into level one.
That could mean fans return to the Caledonian Stadium on Saturday, November 14 as Inverness host East Fife in the Betfred Cup.
Players, managers and pundits alike have all noted the difference that playing matches in empty grounds has made so far.
So MacKay reckons that when fans return, they will be able to inspire Caley Thistle to push that little bit harder in the latter stages of matches.
With few clubs likely to have that luxury, it could even give ICT an advantage over their league rivals.
“It would be a good boost to be honest, because fans give you a bit extra in the last 10 or 15 minutes of games,” the 19-year-old explained.
“If you’re drawing or winning, fans help you see it out or help you to go and chase another goal, they encourage you.
“It has been weird not playing with fans so far, but it could also be weird if we’re playing in front of fans and then we go away to, say, Morton where cases are worse, it could be weird jumping between playing in front of a crowd and not having fans.
“It would definitely help us because people won’t take football for granted any more. They will make the most of being at games now, they will be so happy to be back and they will be looking to help the players out.
“It has been a hard time for us, and it has been hard for them not being able to come to games.
“Hopefully the Highlands do get put into Tier One and we can get fans back, because it would be great to have that buzz around the ground before a game instead of just having the tannoy.”
