Hello this is the game podcast from The Times and I'm Natalie Sawyer.

Joining Gregor Robertson and I today it is Matt Dickinson.

Matt, how are you? How are you enjoying football being back?

Well it's better than football not being back, that's for sure. I mean I've been to

I've been to a couple of games in the flesh, a couple of Aston Villa, I mean it's yeah it's it's it's not the same

experience obviously but yeah good to be back I think you know we're seeing

some sort of inevitable sort of quirks of it in

terms of form we're seeing but you know I think the TV experience that the sort of

crowd noise and so on we are making the best of a bad job.

I think that's, you know, that's where I put it.

No, I would agree with that with the TV experience.

Just in terms of the protocols, is it throughout everywhere you've got it's the same

sort of system for when you're going to again yeah I mean you know the temperature check on the

way in I mean you know it's it is sort of surreal because you know we associate the you know going turning up at a

match with you know just the throng and and the sort of unique sort of buzz that can

give to different games you know you sort of you know, especially those big games where you feel

that sort of that crackle through the crowd. So yeah, it's, you know, it's, I mean, that the parking is obviously a lot easier but that's that's the

only sort of a small very small upside of all this you know crowds crowds give their

own narrative to it to a game and I'm sure we'll get on to it but particularly something like

I'm into Aston Villa versus Chelsea and and it was like this thing called Home Advantage

had vanished.

You know, it was, it was, there was,

...