Stan Collymore says that he wants the Premier League to step in and come up with a solution to player/fan engagement following the Leeds United video that was recorded.
The video in question was filled by @igrattan on Twitter before Leeds’ 4-1 loss to Bournemouth last week and Collymore, writing for the Sunday People (quotes via MOT Leeds News), said he “winced” at the footage when it was released.
“As a fan, I looked at the video of Leeds players ignoring supporters the other day and winced, just as I did at the video of Arsenal’s players signing a shirt but failing to engage with one of their young supporters recently.”
The former player admitted that while he gets that players are in the zone on the day of a game, he wants to see more done by the Premier League to make sure players spend time with supporters before a match.
“I do understand that players are in the zone on matchdays, particularly when there’s so much to play for. We should scotch any idea that it’s just supporters getting that treatment as well because if a chairman or chief exec went into the dressing room on a matchday, they’d get a rollicking and have the door slammed in their face.
“What I’d like to see now is the Premier League stepping in and asking clubs to get their players to go down to the lobby half an hour earlier than they do to give a bit of time to supporters before they switch their game faces on.”
A fair suggestion in some respects from Collymore – after all, fans often sacrifice a lot of their time and money to go and watch their team play, so they deserve something back from the players, even if it is a meet and greet before a game.