Peter Dench is one of those photographers whose pictures tell the story.

So when he produces a book called Lockdown Fanatical Football Fans you know exactly what you are going to get.

Covid clampdowns in 2020 had left stadiums empty, denying football fanatics their life long match day fix.

But for some the stay away guidance proved too much. Brought up on pre game rituals featuring clothes, pals, pubs, pints and meticulously planned travel, come kick off, these fans were lost.

So despite requests to stay away, some fanatics still yearned to be within touching distance of their idols and photographer Peter Dench sought them out, going to grounds himself to see what match day come Project Restart was all about.

Up and down the country he found them out there, doing whatever it took to get close to the action.

At Tottenham one miserable Friday night, for example, he came across three Manchester United fanatics who had driven 200 miles to watch the game on an iPad opposite the stadium.

Outside Villa Park two fans opted to tune into the match day commentary on their phone, just to be close to the derby day action against bitter local rivals Wolves, while another marched around the ground waving a hurling stick while walking her dog… not forsaking her normal match day tribute to Jack Grealish who played the game as a youth.

It seemed a case of whatever helped ease the pain.

Similar scenes in London. Cycling to see Swansea at Millwall through the smallest of gaps in the stand, while a picnic in the park, the Olympic Park to be exact, gave Hammers fans a London Stadium backdrop for their sandwiches, and, one assumes, some bubbles with the beers, while offering Peter another perfect frame to sum up what Lockdown football for the fan was really all about. 

And when pubs were finally allowed to reopen it presented a step back towards normality, with socially distanced fans meeting to create their own big match atmospheres. 

Pubs just like The Park opposite Anfield where Liverpool’s soccer starved supporters shared all the drama unfolding on the pub’s big screen with cardboard cut outs of their heroes.

Fanatical Fans making the most of Lockdown. Just as Peter Dench said.