Graham Potter couldn't think of a better game for supporters to return to the Amex than Premier League champions Manchester City.
It will be the biggest crowd at the Amex since February 2020, and the head coach has described the intervening 15 months without fans as 'a terrible time.'
“We're in football for that buzz of a matchday, you can’t describe it really,” the head coach said. “Even when we've been away and stayed overnight there's nobody else in the hotel, there's nobody in the city centre on a Saturday afternoon – it's been an awful, terrible time.
“So to have supporters back feels a little bit closer to getting back to normal - it’s going to be really emotional, exciting and poignant.
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“I’m looking forward to it. We've had this amazingly strange experience for the last year or so which we've got used to but it shouldn’t be normal. Football is about supporters and feeling that intense sense of joy and disappointment. We've been carrying on trying to win games and haven’t had that feedback from fans that you usually get.
“Supporters are normally quite clear when they’re unhappy or when they’re happy –we’ve missed that a lot. I don’t think we could have asked for a better game to play than Man City, the champions and the best team in the league.
“Hopefully everyone follows the guidelines and is healthy and safe so we can take another step towards next season and getting more fans back.”