At 4.54pm on Saturday, February 29, Ewood erupted, Swansea players fell flat out on their backs, Bradley Johnson Rovers’ saviour as his deflected strike earned them a point.

That was in the fourth of seven added minutes, Rovers eventually punishing the blatant timewasting of the Swans to earn an equaliser in what was a frantic finish.

It was a joyful moment, a reminder of the great emotions football can portray, joy and heartbreak meeting in tandem in the way that only sport can provide.

What no-one knew then as they adrenaline levels started to return to normal was that would be the final time Ewood would open it’s doors to supporters, and indeed, there were no games played at all at the club’s headquarters until June 20.

The football has continued, 22 matches in all staged at Ewood Park without fans, one of just six second-tier clubs to reach a year without supporters being inside their own stadium. The show has gone on, but missing a vital member of the cast.

“Football isn’t the same without fans inside the stadium, it’s surreal, it’s scary, it’s not natural and diminishes the product,” said Rovers chief executive Steve Waggott.

“It’s been nothing short of incredible the whole 12 months, it’s been bizarre. It feels like a lifetime.”

When the document detailing what would be required for Rovers to first return to training, including the sanitising of corner flags, crossbars and footballs, to being able to stage matches once again, landed on his desk, Waggott was unsure how feasible it would be to play football again under such conditions.

Proposed dates have come and gone for fans to possibly return, tiered restrictions ruling out the prospect of a pilot fixture at Ewood, and so the wait has gone on.

iFollow coverage at a tenner a time the now customary offering for fans, 2,500 signing up for season tickets with little prospect of seeing live football as time has progressed.

Rovers’ revenue streams have been hit hard, they sold fewer than 900 matchday passes for the midweek defeat to Watford, as form, opposition, the Sky Sports red button and illegal stream all hitting the club in the pocket.

As for what funding has come their way aside from that of the owners, Waggott said: “Not a lot really. I pushed with a northern reform group of clubs when the Government said they were giving a grant of £1.2b to the arts that was non repayable and not a penny coming to football I was arguing heavily to say that clubs in the north are cultural assets.

“We have no revenue, we need support, we can’t keep going back to owners, we’re trying to keep the show going throughout the year and lift the optimism level for football who love football, but running games behind closed doors only increases the losses and we will accept those, and put the protocols in place for coronavirus and I was saying that we needed help.

“We’ve had an acceleration of some money but we have to repay it back. We’ve been offered some other monies but it has to be paid back, there’s never been any handout.”

The club has remained optimistic throughout that fans would be able to return, the stickering on seating across the stadium is an indication.

Waggott is holding out hope that a lockout for the whole season can be avoided, not least to reward the support of those who committed to season tickets.

However, the May 17 outline for supporters being allowed back in stadia will likely see Rovers fans locked out for a whole season, even though the stadium is ready equipped and bio-secure to welcome them back.

With the Senior Training Centre fully operative, all staff based there are back at work, while at the Academy, the majority of full-time staff have returned, though some part-time staff remain on furlough until clearer guidelines are outlined from the Premier League and Government about the return of grassroots sport.

The club’s Ewood-based staff are operating on a work from policy, with some staff on flexible furlough, with about 75 per cent staff back full time.

“If, and when, we find out when we can unlock the stadium fully, I’d be calling people back to say we need to implement all the plans we’ve got to welcome back our fanbase. I’m still waiting for clarity,” Waggott said.

“We’ll be pulling more staff back as and when we go through the gears of getting fans back and be fully operational again.”

There was a community response, Bradley Johnson standing up when Rovers needed him on the pitch against Swansea and again coming to the rescue of East Lancashire care centres in desperate need of personal protective equipment.

Tony Mowbray took time to phone elderly supporters in the first lockdown to help raise spirits, while the club’s Community Trust arm has helped Blackburn Foodbank feed more than 1,000 people per week.

The club has also opened up rooms in the Bryan Douglas Darwen End as a coronavirus testing centre that has welcomed up to 300 people per day.

The club’s senior management team, as well as first-team squad and coaching staff, all took a deferral of wages of which the club are continuing to pay back, a process Waggott says has ‘been well under way for some time’.

On top of the 2,500 season ticket holders, average iFollow match pass sales, of which all of the £10, minus VAT, goes to the club, have averaged between 2,000 and 2,500, while midweek matches have been 1,500, with a maximum of 2,000.

Waggott says that approximate £25,000 has been a lifeline to the club, which makes the number of supporters illegal streaming a concern, with expected eyeballs on matches undoubtedly much higher.

Football is an uncertain business, and planning ahead has never been easy, but in Covid times this has made it nigh-on impossible, with dates and timeframes constantly changing.

Fans will be back, however, and Waggott says a key job will be to ensure supporters feel safe, but always ready and willing to come back when the opportunity presents itself.

But is there a level of concern about fans wanting to come back after so long away?

“It’s a concern because people can get out of the habit but I find from the emails and the letters I get from supporters, depending on the age of the supporter it seems to be the younger element want to come back as quickly as possible,” he added.

“Some of older supporters are more cagey and wary about it but I think the lateral flow test, the bio-security measures have been non-stop for the return of training, games behind closed doors, we’re well positioned to try and give everyone comfort.

“It’s a great point that we have to engage, and re-engage, with our fanbase because people can get out of the habit of coming to the ground and watching games live.

“For me, when I’ve watched iFollow, it’s fine, but it’s not like watching at Ewood.”