I don't know why we do it. Suffer, and pay for the privilege. Suffer the tension of a recreation. Suffer the mood swings of a maniac. Suffer the ninety minutes of torture, and then come back for some more. What is it with being a football fan. It can only be the promise that it will improve, it will get better, we will have that great undefeated run, we will get promotion.
I can proudly say, "I am a Cobbler, I get a kick out of Soccer."
There I've said it. I don't know whether this is like standing up at a meeting and admitting I have a problem...(hang on a minute, I think I may have a problem), but is quite cleansing to at least confess the root cause of my grief.
I'm back at Sixfields stadium, home of Northampton Town football club, English Football League Division Two, (The Cobblers), for the uninitiated. (I keep putting this bit in 'cause I've had a couple of readers in far flung corners of the world and unless they are Northampton ex-pats, I think I've cracked the Asian market. Note to Gareth Wilsher and the commercial team, please prepare the kit for despatch we've a growing fan base in far off climes...No Gareth, I don't need 500 small, 1 will suffice for now!).
Anyway back to the plot.....I pull off the ring road into the Sixfields complex at just after 2.00pm.
"Are you sure it's not a 5.30 kick-off dad, there's not many here!"
Well he's right. For the first time in a very long time we take a place in the front row of the car-park normally filled by the early arrivers. Worrying. I expected a few more here by now. I know things haven't been great, (Understatement), but even during the depths of last seasons tragic run I never made it onto the front row. Very Worrying. Never mind, there's probably a traffic jam in Jimmy's end that'll explain it.
Nice to see the telly in the bar has still not been fixed. It's getting to be a thing with me now. I'm fed up with squinting to see the TV in the far corner on a smaller screen due to the adopted Cobblers Wraparound, (Why?).
I didn't get my 50:50 tickets before going in the bar....clearing up shower, (well deluge really), thought I'd get them before going in. 14.45 - I sent my "fit" son to run and get the 50:50's. He'd been gone almost 5 minutes and returned with money in hand. Can't find any on sale anywhere. Oh well, their loss I suppose. Take our seats for the afternoon entertainment.
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| This is Northampton Town being friendly with the Morecambe players before the match....nice This is the result of being friendly with Morecambe before the match NORTHAMPTON TOWN 0 MORECAMBE 2 (Not Nice!!) Come on lads. Where's the passion? Where's the pride? Where's the points? |
Like a lot of other people I know the answer to question 3.
As for the other two, I am totally at a loss to even begin to double guess what is happening on the football pitch. We offered very little and apart from a defensive error and a ridiculous hand ball to enable Morecambe to score, they offered very little either.
I know they're near the top of the league but we should have beaten them. We will play far better sides than Morecambe and win so why not today.
We seemed to be playing with a hangover. (I can speak from experience of what this feels like 'cause I've done it a few times on a Sunday morning. It's not big and it ain't clever). And neither was Town's performance today.
I'm not going to offer any deep analysis on why, what or how but I will offer some of my own personal observations of the day.
Morecambe were clearly confused as to where they were and what dressing room to get changed in. They have gone to the trouble of having the word "Visitors" put across the back of their away kit, so if one of them get's lost they can easily be pointed in the right direction! Cool.
The signs were not good from the start. Bolt of lightning. Clap of Thunder before kick-off, Jake Robinson a no show for kick off. (Under the sick-bed?). (This is the second time this season we have lost a player during the warm up. Stop warming up).
The 50:50 winning number was 11511 - this also seemed to be the formation we played in the first half! Any coincidence? (I know there's 2 player's missing, there was in the first half!).
Hallelujah! The carrier bag made a welcome appearance early in the second half. His darting runs and swirling crosses were mesmerising until he was put out of the game by the Morecambe boss. In my opinion he should have been booked for a) stamping, and b) encroaching onto the field of play. Miserable git. I bet he's fun on a windy afternoon in Morecambe!!
I understand we spent a good wedge on the new turf at Sixfield's to enable us to play fast, attractive, exciting, passing football that the player's are capable of and the crowd's will love. (I must be missing something here!). Why do we continually lump the ball forward to our big man, who, invariably is penalised for a foul, and this afternoon is winning next to nothing in the air anyway. Morecambe, like other's have sussed us out early and play big centre-halfs who have a cushy afternoon pinging the ball back with their heads. Try something different!
Long throw is not working. Try something different. It is getting very predictable and easy for the defence to pick off.
Rumour flew around that Gary Johnson, our manager, had resigned at half-time and had not shown for the second half. What a load of tosh! If anyone had bothered looking, he was sitting at the back of the bench. Not ideal as I like my leaders to stand and fight at the front. he obviously had his reasons but it reminded me of Sammo throwing his toy's out of the pram at a home game last season and totally losing it with anyone who came near him - mostly officialdom.
Not great by any means.....not "the worst performance ever," as described on BBC radio Northampton. (Bit over the top boys, it's not a Hollywood Blockbuster your bigging up here, keep it real!).
Just to prove a point that even the Lord Almighty was upset with the afternoon's offering, He decided to relieve himself on the walking masses on the way back to the car!! This is the first time I have been soaked through to my vest and pants since I was about eleven!! (No it's not the same vest, and I'll change my pants when we win!!).
A thoroughly miserable afternoon but "I get a kick out of soccer!!"
See you Tuesday for the Huddersfield Town match in the Johnstone's Paint Trophy, (WTF!!).
Come On Cobblers......Come On!
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