Sorry, It's A Football Blog
It was the London date of the 2017 Slam Dunk Festival today, so pretty much a year to the day since that entertaining background picture of me wearing a pink hat was taken. A lot can change in a year. Moving swiftly on, Huddersfield returned to the top flight of English football for the first time in 45 years with a Championship play off final triumph, 4-3 on penalties after a 0-0 draw with Reading.
It was frankly a dreadful game of football but that isn't too much a surprise given there's something like £150 million riding on it. The playoffs are supposed to make the end of seasons more exciting but largely produce damp squibs. I'd like to see them done away with, or at least modified into the relegation/promotion format since elsewhere in Europe, where the third best team in the division below play the third worst team in the division above for a place in the higher league. Or something.
As most 50+ year olds will tell us, everything was better in the past, including playoff finals. In 1998, Charlton beat Sunderland 7-6 on penalties after a 4-4 draw at Wembley. My father and I could have gone to that match, or at least watched it on television. He decided to take the entire family to Hever Castle instead, an act of cowardice that I've not still not entirely forgiven him for. When we got home (he refused even to have the radio on in the car), I flicked on the teletext whilst my sister was attempting to watch Sister Sister on Nickelodeon (it's strange what you remember) to see that I had missed one of the greatest matches played at the national stadium.
My Dad feels that the fact Sunderland lost the match vindicates his decision and I disagree. Football is about the highs and lows, the agonies and the ecstasies. I still feel like I was robbed of a crucial part of my footballing education, 19 years on. Although the two of us attended Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Millwall at Old Trafford six years later in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Perhaps that part of our footballing education was merely postponed. The fact that part of me wants to go to Millwall vs Sunderland in the Championship next season despite it being football's least attractive away day outing suggests that I have unfinished business there.
I've veered away from the point. I'm delighted for Huddersfield's fans, many of whom will never have seen their club play at the top level. I'm also delighted for Sir Patrick Stewart, one of the club's directors and wish them the best of luck as they boldly go into the Premier League*.
* Sorry.
It was frankly a dreadful game of football but that isn't too much a surprise given there's something like £150 million riding on it. The playoffs are supposed to make the end of seasons more exciting but largely produce damp squibs. I'd like to see them done away with, or at least modified into the relegation/promotion format since elsewhere in Europe, where the third best team in the division below play the third worst team in the division above for a place in the higher league. Or something.
As most 50+ year olds will tell us, everything was better in the past, including playoff finals. In 1998, Charlton beat Sunderland 7-6 on penalties after a 4-4 draw at Wembley. My father and I could have gone to that match, or at least watched it on television. He decided to take the entire family to Hever Castle instead, an act of cowardice that I've not still not entirely forgiven him for. When we got home (he refused even to have the radio on in the car), I flicked on the teletext whilst my sister was attempting to watch Sister Sister on Nickelodeon (it's strange what you remember) to see that I had missed one of the greatest matches played at the national stadium.
My Dad feels that the fact Sunderland lost the match vindicates his decision and I disagree. Football is about the highs and lows, the agonies and the ecstasies. I still feel like I was robbed of a crucial part of my footballing education, 19 years on. Although the two of us attended Sunderland's 1-0 defeat to Millwall at Old Trafford six years later in the semi-finals of the FA Cup. Perhaps that part of our footballing education was merely postponed. The fact that part of me wants to go to Millwall vs Sunderland in the Championship next season despite it being football's least attractive away day outing suggests that I have unfinished business there.
I've veered away from the point. I'm delighted for Huddersfield's fans, many of whom will never have seen their club play at the top level. I'm also delighted for Sir Patrick Stewart, one of the club's directors and wish them the best of luck as they boldly go into the Premier League*.
* Sorry.
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