Normality strikes as Gareth Ainsworth greets returning fans

Half an hour before kick-off, the old rocker went for a walk. They clapped him, he clapped them back, and for a charming moment as Gareth Ainsworth made his lap on the square, everything felt a little more normal.

More normal to him and more normal to her, those Wycombe Wanderers fans who have counted down from different points in time to this day.

Some, like Lynden Finch, had waited more than half a century for a club from a Tier 2 city to play a game in the second division. She’s been around since those days of the 1960s when they kicked five rungs down in the Isthmian League. “We weren’t that good then,” she said. Yes quite.

Gareth Ainsworth made his round of the pitch before the game to applaud the current fans

Supporters (above) were allowed to return to Adams Park for the first time in eight months

Another trailer, David Peaty, stood a few yards away. He’s 65 now and you always remember your first – he was Tooting and Mitcham at home 50 years ago in old Loakes Park. “Wycombe in the championship,” he said. “It all feels a little strange. But nice.’

And that brings us to the other kind of weird and the other kind of countdown. To the countdown that began on February 22nd, when Wycombe Tranmere defeated Adams Park 3-1 in a League One game on the course.

That was their last game before Covid put its curtain on all important things and also all small things. Tranmere is now in the second division; Wycombe is in the championship and the world as we knew it is not quite what it was.

The result may have been in Stoke’s favor, but the fans were still excited to be there

Some waited almost a century for their tier two city club to play in the second division

And that’s why Ainsworth – the singer who runs this quirky, lovable club – had his smile and his followers had their smile. Because while football has been back for some time, it didn’t return until Wednesday evening when some select fans were brought back to their seats.

To those who support Wycombe, a cold night against Stoke has never meant so much. The same goes for fans in five other areas around the country that have allowed up to 2,000. The small steps of progress.

How the 1,000 loved it in this case. When Alex Samuel hit a post five minutes later, they yelled. When Josef Bursik, the Stoke keeper, wasted a little time, they shouted even more. When the referee, Darren Bond, booked Samuel for a dive, they yelled and called him all kinds of times. When Nick Powell led the way for Stoke in the second half, they roared so he took his ear and gave something back. Real football perished for a while; old habits outlived the wait.

The bigger picture for Wycombe is that they find themselves in an increasingly difficult situation and soon enough the narrative will focus on their chances of survival.

But for this game and the other five who like it, it’s always been about the immediate context. About the importance of football for those too often taken for granted and whose absence has never been felt so deeply by their clubs.

For Mike Seaward, a Canadian who only got the mistake about five years ago, it felt like preparing for a date to prepare for a date.

For Linda, who runs Linda’s Burger Van, who took his first game day in cash since February, this was just “very welcome”. It was a reward for the 65 stewards. For the club and so many others struggling to balance books, it was a tiny part of what they needed, but a move that was crucial.

Different groups, different agendas, different struggles. Perhaps Lynden Finch put it best.

“It’s been a terrible year and that’s just a bit of normal,” she said. “We all needed it.”

The fans roared when Josef Bursik, Stoke keeper, held the ball a fraction too long