Only occasionally do I have football on my mind, but my son talks about it all the time, so I sometimes feel inspired to write about it.
Last night's match was a classic case - Chelsea, the team you would normally expect to win vs. Liverpool, the team that has a special touch at European tournaments. Sure enough Liverpool pulled it off again, starting as underdogs behind. A mouth-watering final against Man U or AC is promised.
Had to remind myself that once upon a time my home team (Nottingham Forest) won the European Cup twice in a row. Now they are struggling to get up out of League One, it all seems a very long time ago in a different universe. The list of English winners is strange reading though: Liverpool (5 times), Man U (2), Forest (2) and Villa (1), with Leeds, Liverpool and Arsenal as one-time runners up. How did that happen?
The demise of Forest a few years ago has some parallels with the fate of the once mighty Leeds today. Barring a miracle, they will be in League One next year. Again a far cry from their heady days. Maybe they'll be back one day. It all seems to depend on having a billionaire sponsor.
Meanwhile at a local level, I'm off with Jono to watch the second leg of a Conference play-off semi-final on Monday. Morecambe could yet get into the League proper if they beat York City. The final's at Wembley, so how cool would that be. It would also be brilliant for the town, which is desperately trying to regenerate itself economically. Come on the Shrimps! (never thought I'd hear myself say that)
Last night's match was a classic case - Chelsea, the team you would normally expect to win vs. Liverpool, the team that has a special touch at European tournaments. Sure enough Liverpool pulled it off again, starting as underdogs behind. A mouth-watering final against Man U or AC is promised.
Had to remind myself that once upon a time my home team (Nottingham Forest) won the European Cup twice in a row. Now they are struggling to get up out of League One, it all seems a very long time ago in a different universe. The list of English winners is strange reading though: Liverpool (5 times), Man U (2), Forest (2) and Villa (1), with Leeds, Liverpool and Arsenal as one-time runners up. How did that happen?
The demise of Forest a few years ago has some parallels with the fate of the once mighty Leeds today. Barring a miracle, they will be in League One next year. Again a far cry from their heady days. Maybe they'll be back one day. It all seems to depend on having a billionaire sponsor.
Meanwhile at a local level, I'm off with Jono to watch the second leg of a Conference play-off semi-final on Monday. Morecambe could yet get into the League proper if they beat York City. The final's at Wembley, so how cool would that be. It would also be brilliant for the town, which is desperately trying to regenerate itself economically. Come on the Shrimps! (never thought I'd hear myself say that)
5 comments:
Typical!
Went to a few Morecambe matches with son no. 2 when I arrived here. Now that they might just manage to get promoted into the league, I'm off to Penrith!!! (And they're not even in the same league as Lancaster.)
Congrats on new job. Carlisle Utd not too far away! Say hello to my colleague Paul Hutchinson (team vicar and UCLan Chaplain) when you get to Penrith.
I endured two seasons of the Baggies in the third tier, culminating in a play-off victory at Wembley.
By the way I notice that Lancster have the worst football team in the whole football league pyramid - official.
It's true about Lancaster. They hit financial issues, most of the staff walked out, ten points were deducted, (not necessarily in that order. Since then the teams have been pretty ad-hoc, I gather.
I have to hold my hands up and admit that I have never been to a football match.
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