By all sensible logic this season should be somewhere near the bottom of my “things I am actively looking forward to” list. Look at the facts – the 2009/10 season ended in misery, the World Cup ended in…well, actually, I quite enjoyed it. But you catch my drift.
Swindon getting to Wembley should have been a fantastic experience regardless of the result. In fact I was reminded by Gripweed minutes before kick off of my previous claim that I would be delighted just to get to the playoff final, and a win would be a bonus. That’s not really how it works though, is it?
The thing is, the game was rubbish. There’s a far better blog on the subject here. But what bothered me most wasn’t the game, it was the day as a whole. Previous visits to Wembley have been exciting, sunny days with a great atmosphere. This was a miserable rainy day, infested with Millwall fans and the desire to get as far away from the stadium as humanly possible, as soon as I could. I honestly couldn’t work out how we’d get out in one piece if we won. We saw no trouble, but rightly or wrongly it felt that it wouldn’t take much encouragement to get it. Winning, for example. That killed the day for me, it isn’t how I want to watch my football.
So to sum the day up, I had a lovely time up until we left Enfield at lunchtime (smashing sandwich in the pub) and after we got back to Enfield (smashing chilli in the pub). Shame about the bit in the middle.
However, the whole experience seems to have had an odd effect on me. Last season I only managed 3 or 4 games. This season I’m doing 10. I can’t wait – I’m even thinking of buying a top for the first time in ages. I guess the effect of that Millwall game was a bit like having a rotten cold. Only then do you remember how nice it is not having a throat like sandpaper.
Less threatening. More eyeliner.
Farewell then Wembley, for now. Fortunately my memories of the place haven’t been left tarnished, but in truth it was Green Day a couple of weeks later which saw to that.*
Roll on automatic promotion.
*Yes yes, I know that going to gigs there probably caused the bobble that caused Austin to miss…
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