Ashworth: We've missed Albion supporters

Albion's technical director says fans have missed out on some big Albion moments and he can't wait to see them back this Monday.

Charlie Hanson

2020-12-07T06:25:00Z

Albion will welcome 2000 supporters to the Amex on Monday night.

Dan Ashworth has said having 2000 supporters back at the Amex for Monday night's Premier League game will be a great lift for the Albion.

The match against Southampton is the first-time fans have been able to attend a Premier League match at the Amex since February.

Since Project Restart Albion have had some great moments: Neal Maupay's late winner over Arsenal, Tariq Lamptey's emergence in the first team and a strong end to the 2019/20 season, which saw the club attain a record seasonal points total in the Premier League.

He said, “We've really missed the supporters – there have been some key moments you wish the supporters could have been there for.

"There was the last-minute winner against Arsenal in our first game back. They haven't seen Tariq Lamptey yet. He has not been seen live by any of our supporters.

“Tariq made his debut at Leicester in June – he has played in nearly all our games since, but our supporters haven’t seen him. Stuff like that you forget and it's a shame.

Dan Ashworth is incredibly proud of the work that goes in across the club that gets youngsters into the first team picture.

“We miss them at games, it's just nowhere near what it should be and I really hope we can get more of them back in, get the attendances up around the country.

"Not just from a financial point of view. Those exciting moments that I have spoken about has been the case for all clubs.”

Albion hosted a test event in the summer where 2500 fans watched a pre-season friendly against Chelsea.

Ashworth wasn’t convinced that number would add much to the atmosphere, but was pleasantly surprised when he heard the noise from the crowd at the Amex.

“We're really looking forward to Monday night. We ran a trial event in the summer, our last pre-season game was against Chelsea and they allowed 2500 supporters into the stadium.

“The Amex holds 32,000 supporters, a decent sized stadium. I've got to be honest and say I thought 2500 supporters would get lost in that, that they wouldn't make any difference.

"But it was unbelievable, the atmosphere and the noise that a relatively small number of people can generate in a stadium, it was incredible.”

The technical director was speaking on the Training Ground Guru Podcast, which you can listen to in full by clicking here.