Month: August 2015

Happy memories of a bygone era

We all love a bit of nostalgia and football fans of my age are no different. In this sanitised, dispassionate, greed-is-good world of top-level football, it’s heart-warming and a little sad to be be reminded of how it used to be.

BT Sport has a series called PlayBack and it broadcasts games from the 70s and 80s. The game was completely different in that era and being a football fan during the 80s was often a chastening experience. Football hooliganism, awful facilities and decidedly poor quality fare (especially if you were an Arsenal fan) was commonplace. But looking back, I enjoyed myself immensely. It was raw, honest and a whole lot of fun for an impressionable youngster.

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“Paying the wages of Michael Owen??”

That was the reaction of one of my friends when I told them I had just signed up with BT Sport for the next 18 months. My reply was, well you pay for the wages of Steve Claridge and Garth Crooks when paying your TV licence.

It works out that I’ll be paying at extra £10 per month. I spent in excess of that watching us beat Chelsea on Sunday. I’ll still head out to the pub for the big games, but it there are many reason for wanting BT Sport, in addition to my Sky Sports package. Having access to the extra Premiership games, as well as the FA Cup will be great on occasions. And I’m a huge fan of Italian football, so watching the Rome derby on a Sunday evening will be the perfect end to a weekend. But the real jewel of the crown is the Champions League games. I just couldn’t face the prospect of missing out on watching Europe’s finest (and Manchester United) in action after a day at work.

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“Yeah, but it’s only a friendly”

Don’t you believe it my Chelsea supporting friends. Wenger’s finally got the best of Jose. If you looked at the face of the classless one at the final whistle, then don’t believe for a second that the result didn’t matter. Well, it did in my mind.

I didn’t bother attempting to get a ticket for the game. I do detest pre season friendlies and even the prospect of beating chelsea and winning some silverware didn’t tempt tempt me to chase a ticket. So I watched the game in a pub, with few people in attendance really focused on the game. I don’t usually believe in the notion that such results in pre-season games strike a psychological blow for the victor against the loser. But on this occasion, I went to bed dreaming that Chelsea as a club would be crushed by losing the prestigious and much revered Community Shield. Roll on September 19.