I think I realised a while ago that the relationship between players and fans is not, and never has been, complementary but mutually convenient. They don't do it for us and we don't do it for them. We don't go to matches to "support the lads", we go because we enjoy it. https://twitter.com/RorySmith/status/1297438302996439041

Sometimes that creates a tension- when a crowd boos a team or a player or gets fidgety when their team is playing out from the back. Removing fans probably has just about more upsides than downsides for the players in terms of a 90 minute game. But fans pay the money.

In isolated moments, a crowd can create a surge of energy I think- but only in short bursts. When you listen to great atmospheres in the Bundesliga, for instance, you realise the chanting is not contingent on the game at all.

The noise and the singing is not reactive, it's just constant and you tune it out after a while. That's because the singing and the chanting isn't there to energise the players but to amuse the fans. [I don't say any of this pejoratively, it's not problematic at all].

In short, players play because they like playing. Fans attend because they like the experience of watching with other fans. It just so happens that those two things intersect in the same space.