Aberdeen’s application to have 8,200 supporters at Pittodrie for upcoming games is an ambitious target that will hopefully be granted.
It is a big jump from zero supporters last season to 8,200, but the club are right to put that application in.
There were 10,000 supporters at Hampden for the Euro 2020 ties, and 65,000 at Wembley for the Euro 2020 final.
Having so many supporters at the Euros must be taken into consideration by authorities when making a decision about Aberdeen’s bid.
Those games are before the scheduled further easing of lockdown restrictions on August 9 when larger crowds at sporting venues in Scotland are expected.
Aberdeen have obviously given a lot of thought to the amount of supporters they can safely accommodate and see 8,200 as a realistic number in a 20,000 all-seater stadium.
I wish them well, although I am not too sure Aberdeen will get 8,200 fans into those games.
Supporters have waited long enough to get into stadium’s and I am sure Aberdeen will be doing everything possible to make the environment safe.
The good news is the positive way the vaccine roll-out is working and how all governments appear desperate to get somewhere back to normality.
Aberdeen had 300 fans into a test game against Kilmarnock last September and it ran very smoothly. That was the last time fans were inside Pittodrie.
It is a big jump from 300 to 8,200 and that is where the authorities will have to assess the situation.
However, the authorities have had experience with supporters at Hampden during the Euros.
If that has worked okay and there has been no setback from allowing 10,000 into Hampden then all that has to be put into the melting pot before making the decision to say yes or no to Aberdeen’s request.
They will have that information at hand and if it is positive information then I would hope Aberdeen will get something close to what they are looking for.
In the build up to that opening game against BK Hacken in Europe, the Dons opted not to travel to a training camp or play away friendlies.
Instead, they have remained at Cormack Park for training and closed-door friendlies.
Having drawn 1-1 with Inverness Caley Thistle last week, they will face both Reading and St Johnstone on Friday.
The last thing Aberdeen want is to go into the new season with Covid issues, so it has to be a safe pre-season preparation this summer as well as a strong football and physical one.
That there has been no Covid issues at Aberdeen this summer indicates the decision to remain at Cormack Park has payed off in that respect.
Thankfully Covid is not overly affecting players from a health point of view.
The issue is that if you have a positive test these players are not available.
Then if there are any close contacts they are not available either.
Preparation during this summer’s pre-season should not be looked at in isolation.
It has to be viewed with Covid in mind and the bid to make sure every player is available for the start of the season, rather than flying somewhere to train or playing games away from home and potentially bringing back health issues related to Covid that could scupper the season.
Aberdeen had a Covid issue at the beginning of last season and clearly don’t want a repeat of anything like that.
I can understand why the pre-season preparations have maybe been, in some people’s eyes, somewhat low-key
However, it seems to be the right call in terms of keeping Covid away from the squad.
The ultimate test of whether manager Stephen Glass has got his preparations right will be how they perform in the first leg against BK Hacken.
It is how the first handful of competitive games pan out that will ultimately be the indicator of whether pre-season preparations are right or not.
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