Monday 26 December 2016

Boxing Day football - Memories

Many fans and pundits reckon the festive season over Christmas can make or break your season. I have no beliefs in any kind of magical skills and abilities to predict the future. The season will rest on the transfer business done during the January transfer window I believe.

It has been a while, no what seems like a lifetime since I did any away trip. I do miss the excitement of travelling away when indeed I was a regular I always preferred away fixtures to home.

Boxing Day has always been a favourite football wise with the away trip the best. If you were lucky, you had a local rival to play, Swansea or Newport there was always something spicy about those games if you didn’t lose. No one likes to lose to ones rivals it takes a while to wash away the pain with me anyway as I couldn’t understand fans who would say it was just one game.

After all the excesses of Christmas, a nice game of football was always a good day out specially if it was an away fixture. My favourite was Oxford United (1984), we were hammered so was I, lost 4-0, but with great company. We were nearly locked in the pub for the night on the way home due to snow. The saddest thing you can see when you are possibly locked in a pub overnight is the sign of flashing yellow lights of a snowplough going past the pub window as you were settling down for the night.

The worst trip was a no show at Shewsbury, (1994) after the wheel of my mate Andrews’s mini nearly fell off outside Hereford and finding out we were in a death trap. What can you say when the AA man turns up the wheel is hanging off with wires sticking out of the tyres and no tread anywhere. I was just glad there was no police involvement. Stranded in Hereford on Boxing Day was not my idea of fun. We had a nice trip back to Cardiff with the car on a flat back courtesy of the AA while the City fans were coming home happy with the points for a win in the bag. Would have been nice to see the game.

Truth be told I preferred travelling on the supporters coach no real dramas but fans moaning about turkey sandwiches. While some fans were offering up their wife, girlfriends and first-born child for any sandwich without turkey filling. I would be sitting there in full knowledge I would not be sharing my spam and tomatoes sarnies.

Today Cardiff City fans are making the trip to Brentford via the M4 in search of desperate points to help pull the club away from the relegation fight we find ourselves in at this time. Surprisingly the full allocation of tickets has not been sold.

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