I don't miss 'football'. I miss 'THE FOOTBALL'.

[CN211276]

Some weeks into the first lockdown, the league and the TV companies announced that Premier League games would restart and every game would be on telly, and there would be 2 or 3 games EVERY day. Champion! Something to look forward to.

Sit down on the sofa with my youngest lad for the first game. Villa vs Sheff Utd. Fake crowd noise. Doritos all gone after 10 minutes. Tommy gone after 20 minutes. “It's rubbish, innit” he says in a way that does not require a question mark and looks at me in a way that says 'I'm a little bit disappointed in you'. There's never been so much footie on telly, and I've never watched so little of it. I don't miss football. I miss 'THE FOOTBALL'.

Meet me mates off the train at Westcliff, a couple of sherberts out the way in the Moonraker (best name for a pub, ever, but sadly now renamed as The Lamb & Lion), over the bridge, 3 or 4 or 5 in the Hamlet Court then walk the best part of a mile up to the Spread Eagle, just outside the ground. Bustin' for a slash, last one through the door gets the round in. Doors locked and singing starts about an hour before the game. It used to be 'Total Eclipse Of The Heart' that got everyone loose, now it's 'Sweet Caroline'. 10 to 3, get in the queue for the chippy round the back of St. Mary's church. 2 chicken & mushroom pies please, chief. Lots of brown sauce (why is the top of the bottle always gunged, ffs?). Jib round to 'The West' not walking but not running. Bustle through the turnstile, first glimpse of the pitch, game's already started. Walk along the back and then down the long flight of steps. Pies in left hand, right arm in the air to conduct the crowd... 'wiv an S an' an O an' a U 'n T 'n H 'n an EEE 'n an N and D, youuuuu knighted be, SARFEND UNITED FC. Always, always trip on one of the steps just as the rest of the lads spot us.

“Aaaarh, you're shit”
“Alrite, fellow fucking lowlifes”

20 minutes in, realise you ain't gonna make it to half time. Might as well go for a run off now while it's quiet. “Get us another couple of pies”. We never sit down. The stewards have given up on making us. They have a quiet word when the Fire Safety Officer is having a match-day inspection, though, and we scratch their back in return for overlooking our occasional misdemeanours. 1-0 up after 15 minutes, Southend concede with 5 minutes of the game to go, of course. We leave with 4 minutes to go and flash a few 'V's at the away fans on the way out. Run round and get in for a couple at The Railway Tavern outside Prittlewell station. Easier to get a taxi from there. Have a couple while we're waiting. If the missus is in, see if she fancies a ruby.

“Who won?”
“We did.”
“You always say that.”
Pause. Hint of a smile.
“Yeah, I know.”

I can't do that every week now, because I live in Durham not Sarfend. Now, I'm older and I take Tommy to Roots Hall a couple of times a season, and he's instantly part of the gang with my mates' lads. And we get to several away games up norf. We walk from Sheffield train station to Bramall Lane in the pissing rain, soaked through, then his eyes light up as we get to the top of the narrow staircase at the back of the away end and into the back of the stand and 2,000 away fans are all singing and it's reverberating off the tin roof and he looks at me like it's the best thing ever. We're at Oldham on a Tuesday night and it's the coldest place on earth when you're losing. But we will do it again and again because one night, just one night, we will be winning, and at the end of the match the players will come over to us and one of them will give Tommy a high five. I don't miss football, though.

A season or two back, West Ham left the Boleyn Ground at Upton Park to move to the shopping centre waiting area that is the London Olympic Stadium. There used to be plenty of lads who went to Southend on a Friday night and West Ham on a Saturday. That wasn't my regular gig but I got to a few games each season with a mate who lived in Hornchurch. We've been in The Boleyn and the Supporters Club before the match, we've had pie 'n' mash at Nathans, we've had the 'Best Burgers'. We've dipped into Green Street market for a Shawarma wrap (“wot you eatin' that muck for, Tiernan, you dirty bastard). When the Hammers left Upton Park, my mate cried real tears. But he doesn't miss football. Now I know how he feels.

[NSNO2021]

WHU were a "proper" footy club until Green & Gold took over. The move to the old/new olympic stadium has been well documented and its a bleak, concrete, pastiche of what was. The old ground had a distinct vibe, it was intimidating. I went once as an away fan and never returned, too much nonsense and a totally indifferent police force. In my teens and early 20s, the weekend was all about the game, it was part of our DNA but that tribal belonging, the pride in your club has for me, long gone.

Unfortunately modern elite footy is a business, a business that's totally focused on revenue and ultimately profit. I am convinced that there will be a European Super League with the usual suspects with their noses in an even bigger, deeper trough.

I still watch a bit of footy on the box (no Sky/BT subscription for me) but I get far more enjoyment watching my grandson play footy and having a chat with the other parents and grandparents.

[savvypaul]

WHU were a "proper" footy club until Green & Gold took over. The move to the old/new olympic stadium has been well documented and its a bleak, concrete, pastiche of what was. The old ground had a distinct vibe, it was intimidating. I went once as an away fan and never returned, too much nonsense and a totally indifferent police force.

Yeah. In the 80s, Millwall's Tony Cascarino was warming up in front of the 'chicken run' on the popular side. A Hammers fan shouted 'Oi, Tony'. He made the mistake of catching their eye. The 'fan' was running a finger across his throat and pointing to Cascarino. Cascarino dismissively shouted 'yeah, righto mate', upon which the fan pulled out a stanley knife. Cascarino went and warmed up on the other side of the pitch.

[Bencat57]

What can I say I always been and always will be a Liverpool fan , please note this is the team fan not the club who I despise . I am already on dodgy ground and deeply hated by so many other football fans just for saying that .

I have been a Liverpool fan since i was seven when after hearing Bill Shankly on the radio I asked my Dad if I could go with him and my Uncle Michael . Captured ever since , I am old enough to see Liverpool as an okay team , then a poor team then building up to a good then great team . I have also had the years of being nearly their but not quite good enough . Now we are a very good team that can play some truly lovely football but most of them just get things done and win . Last few years have been wonderful a roller coaster journey to the the top .

Next part should the big drop down but will see how that comes about. I have season ticket for Anfield , used to go to all the away games till an early eighties night game at Leeds after which i just thought I do not need to go through this just to watch my team . Love the meet up with my younger brother and sister before the game few pints and long talks of what we will play like and what the score will be . Arrive at the ground just in enough time to get in get my seat . never buy anything in the ground enjoy the game sing my heart out then after the game straight out back to the pub to meet my brother and sister few more then off home .

Miss all of that now and forced to scab around finding a way to watch the Liverpool games . While I admit to not really enjoying it that much (I always find a channel with no noise on hate the fake crowd noise ) I just can not miss a Liverpool game it is like breathing .

Very angry watching so many European games this week with limited fans in the stadium with places like Anfield , Old Statford , The Emirates all holding over 20,000 a stand there is no reason why 5000 per stand could not be let in and watch socially distanced . Even just that number would make a difference and if I was not luck enough then so be it just as long as some Liverpool fans get to be there . There is no science or sensible argument why the Albert Hall and the O2 can be allowed to open and out door stadiums are not able to except for the MP's looking after London and there own interests , I am starting to hate this country .

[slinger]

I'm 66, and although I've been a Liverpool supporter for the last 55 of those years I've been to West Ham a goodly few times, as I had a mate at work who was a Hammers supporter. I even popped over to Holland with him (and another mate, who was an Arsenal supporter) when they played Den Haag. one year We ended up with the Dutch crowd that night, as because the West Ham supporters couldn't get to them (mounted cops, on the terraces, with big guns) and they didn't want to miss out on a fight, they started battering each other.

We got home early though. An escort to the airport by cops in Jeeps with machine guns mounted on the back will do that for you.

I've stood at the Shed end at Chelski when the only other LFC supporter in sight was a little Irish fella whose hair was redder than his scarf. We beat them 2 - 1 that day (goals from Roger Hunt and a blonde kid from Kidderminster, Alun Evans. Bobby Tamblyn got theirs).

I've stood in the Clock End at Highbury with my late father, again, just about the only Liverpool supporter there. When we went to see other teams than Liverpool at Highbury I'd pretend to support Arsenal... mostly... except, and I say this with some degree of shame now, when they played Man U one year and George Best was a magician.

None of those was as good as standing on the Kop for the first time though and singing You'll Never Walk Alone with everyone else.

Even before the pandemic, my days of going to live matches were long gone but I've still got my memories, my VPN and my dodgy streams - because I'd rather tip coins into a sewer then feed Murdoch's bank account.

[CN211276]

Footy on Sky is a god send for me, but pay to view is a no, no.

What I am missing big time is racing. For 35 years I had regulary been going to meetings. It is usually Bath, Chepstow and Cheltenham now, but before train fares got silly it could be further afield. The day would start early with a bus ride into town to meet the lads in a cafe. Would sometimes go to an offy to buy some drinks for the train. Would study the form on the train with a clear head and pick my horses. Straight from the train to a pub and the start of a drinks kitty. Would knock them back in the pubs where drinks are a lot cheaper than the course. It would be taxi or bus to the course just in time for the first race. Hopefully we would have a few winners, the kitty needing to be topped up. Back into town after for more drinks before the train home. Would play cards, a good way of keeping awake. Some years ago we were celebrating a friends 50th in Bath when things got a bit loud. We were put on pub watch and no pub would let us in. The police escorted us to the train, with a threat of a night in the cells. Had a tele conference with a couple of friends yesterday bemoaning what we are missing during this Covid nightmare.

[Stemcor1990]

I’m a Millwall fan who lives in Essex so surrounded by WHU

One of the good things about supporting a not very good team is that when a bit of success does come along it is so so sooooooo sweet. We booked a holiday to Disneyland in April 2004 and I remember seeing an advert outside a bar - breakfast and the FA cup semifinal against Sunderland on tv. Drove over in the morning but the place didn’t open. Gutted. Waited for what seemed like ever to get on the internet back at the complex we were staying at. The locals wondered what was going on when I found out the result, punched the air and threw my eldest what seemed like 10 feet upwards as the realisation of a FA cup final sank in.

The final itself is another story and it would take an age to write what happened (and nobody would be interested anyway).

Seeing the boys win at Wembley in the first division play-off final in 2017 was absolutely incredible - the last 5 minutes was absolute agony as we somehow managed to hold on to the lead.

There have been plenty of moments that were less than stellar. We had an incredible run in the cup in 1985 until that fateful night at Luton. Everybody thinks they know the story but there was some things going on that were nothing to do with our fans and were absolutely shocking. I’m not defending what happened that night in any way but Bedfordshire police and Luton Town FC have a few questions still unanswered.

The game has changed in so many ways since I started watching all those years ago. Thank goodness the violence has gone but in some respects it’s a bit too sanitised.

I actually have some sympathy for West Ham fans. Their club has been taken over by a bunch of chancers. Brady will never be forgiven for calling their fans “customers”. The club has a policy of buying has-beens and crocks who are only interested in a pay-day. They don’t have the money to buy the best players so cannot challenge for trophies. Stuck in mediocrity; too good to get relegated but not good enough to be taken seriously. A board who promise everything but deliver nothing. At least Millwall are honest about who they are.

[BillyBones]

I'm a life long Man U fan, and before you come out with the usual gag I happen to be a Salford lad so I support my local team.

I haven't gone along to a game at OT for over 4 years now and can't say I miss it that much. I even cancelled Sky Sports during the first lockdown and have never reactivated it. As I'm with Virgin I still get BT Sport so get a few games on there if I wish but to be honest if it's not United playing then I'm not interested.

Went to my first game at OT in about 1970/71 against dirty Leeds, Bremner,Giles,Hunter and co. A boring 0-0 draw I seem to recall but wow what an atmosphere. 63000 crammed in like sardines, it was great. I used to go home and away during the late 70's and 80's, saw a once great team relegated, saw them rise again, had a few good moments with Big Ron's team then watched aghast as Fergies first few years produced possibly the worst football ever seen at OT. What happened in the 90's you know, those days seem a long way away now. Funnily enough, the best year to follow the Reds away was, for me anyway, when we were in the old 2nd division and there were great trips away to the likes of Cardiff, Hull, Bristol Rovers etc. Great times. Hire a van from Salford Van Hire, and 10 to 15 of us would all pile in the back with crates of beer. Back in those days you could rack up to OT 10 mins before kick off and pay at the gate, oh for those days again.

[slinger]

Salford Van Hire? Wasn't he a Dutch forward, played for Inter Milan in the late eighties?

[NSNO2021]

I used to pray for an away draw in the FA cup especially the early rounds. The furthest we got to was Plymouth Argyle for a 3rd round tie in 1975. Our special left Lime St at 5.30 am on a freezing January morning. The train had no heating and on the way home the lights failed but we had a great time after winning 1-3. When we were skint which was more often than not we would "thumb it" from Haydock Island (J23 of M6) and went as far afield as Norwich & Ipswich which were great trips. Some crazy, silly times with some unforgettable memories.