Friday Poll: Pick a pigeon picture

The stadia aren’t quite closed.

By The Tito@Viola_Nation Mar 6, 2021, 2:01am CET

Daily Life In Dublin During COVID-19 Lockdown

It’s been nearly a year since we saw full stands at the Studio Artemio Franchi (or anywhere else) and it’s pretty obvious that the lack of supporters affected how Fiorentina plays. The Franchi has been fantastically raucous since Rocco Commisso bought the club despite the Viola wavering between mediocrity and misery, and the fans deserve recognition for how they’ve carried the team through one of the roughest patches in recent memory, although it’s hard to remember when the stadium is closed.

That’s why I’m very upset with Serie A, which allowed Sampdoria to bring a group of supporters into the Luigi Ferraris a couple weeks ago for the game against Fiorentina. While there’s plenty of analysis out there that says the Viola lost because they played badly, I’m pretty sure that the extra motivation from the stands had a massive impact on the result, as there was even a series of pitch invasions that clearly put the visitors off. I’m talking, of course, about the pigeons.