AC Milan were victorious last night, as they beat Liverpool 2-1 in the European Cup final. It was a crap game in all fairness – a bit of a damp squib with the excitement of starting a new tube of toothpaste.
But other events at the final made me realise how thick and stupid us football supporters are.
Take a look at UEFA blames Reds fans for chaos (BBC Sport). Here we have a situation where football fans come bottom of the list: 20,000 tickets were given to the "UEFA family" – read sponsors and benefactors. 9,000 were allocated by means of a ballot. That is 29,000 seats gone already out of a 63,000-capacity stadium – about half. The 34,000 remaining were split between Liverpool and AC Milan supporters. Of the 17,000 seats allocated to each of these clubs, Liverpool and AC Milan will have set a significant number aside for their own sponsors and benefactors, and the rest would have been snapped up by the countless thousands of eager supporters that would have wanted to go. Liverpool complain over tickets (EPSNsoccernet).
UEFA blames Liverpool fans for their part in the chaotic scenes as fans desperately tried to see their heroes and saw only disinterested fatcats waltz into the stadium to drink some wine and chat about the weather back home.
But I’m no better. I am seeking to renew my season ticket with Newcastle United. I paid outrageous prices to view the "entertainment" on offer last season at St. James’ Park. If I went to watch an opera or a play and see similar performances, you can bet there would be a queue for people getting their money back. But such is the passion for the game, no-one even thinks to demand a refund on their tickets, and in fact they are often near the front of the queue for the next ticket. And we buy shirts and other merchandise. But when it comes to it, a football club is only as successful as its finances, not the calibre of its fans.
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I have quite an intense dislike for Liverpool Football Club. It’s not the manager or the players as such. It’s the fans. They’re not bad as people – they’re good for a laugh, as much as the Geordies – but as supporters of a football, they are nobheads in essence… I feel they are a pretentious breed, demanding and expecting success based on long-gone glories. Pot calling kettle black. Apologies.
But anyhow, yes, the European Cup final is tomorrow, as I am sure you are aware. I have to say that I shall be supporting two teams tomorrow: AC Milan and Sky Sports. Before any cretinous half-witted sad person informs me that I should support the “British” team, I shall politely inform them to remove themselves from my vision before my fingers and his nose are in a state of brokenness. The fact is, I reckon most Liverpool supporters do not give a toss about representing Britain, and had Manchester United gone through to face Liverpool in the final, I would have supported them.
As for Sky Sports, I am glad they will be showing the European Cup final. I will not have to endure Clive Tyldesley’s "unique" commentary – "Hello! Hello! We have a game on here!"… Rather we have, probably, Andy Gray, who does not use each sentence as a one-liner to attempt to cement his place in commentators’ history. Unlike Kenneth Wolstenholme ("They think it’s all over…"), Clive Tyldesley attempts to make himself just as memorable as the occasion ("Remember the name… Wayne Rooney" – as if we could forget…).
Rant over, please return to your single-minded and deluded patriotism and your annoying commentary.
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I followed my own advice I posted this morning. I looked out of the window of the bus, and I noticed something I hadn’t before. I saw some wild rabbits lazily soaking the morning rays just off one of the junctions from the A1. I hadn’t noticed them there before.
There isn’t much else to report. I am relieved that there are no more assignments to be done this academic year. Thank goodness!
There is a chance I might be paying Sittingbourne a visit, which has perked me up no end! I hope it happens, but whether it happens is pretty circumstancial, things have to fall into place.
Anyway, I’m off now: I’m watching the opening ceremony of the European Cup Final – it’s crap, but it’s part of the sad old tradition…
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I managed to miss the entire European Cup semi-final tonight. Sounds like it was a good thing I did, as by all accounts Arsenal were crap tonight. I was indeed very asleep at the time. I cannot cite a lack of sleep as the reason for my doze, so I assume that it is just the sheer lack of energy. There are reasons for this.
Got in quite early and printed out the Maple part of the homework, and Jayne and Rosie came in. Rosie asked me about my student uni website, which I had recently changed to the hiv:aids theme (edit: now removed). Sometimes it is difficult to explain your desire to spread the word when it comes to something which is still both a taboo and a stigmatised topic. I wish to make a point of saying that this is not a “gay” disease. The fact that I didn’t say this at the time probably raised an eyebrow or two when my page unveiled itself on screen. It needn’t have been, but it felt an awkward moment.
It’s funny. My closest friends think I’m gay, and from the outside it probably does appear so. So when something like that happens, I immediately feel very self-conscious. It feels like I’m hiding a secret. I’m starting to think though that if I wish to remove the stigma attached to the virus and the corresponding disease, then I shouldn’t feel like this. I need some help in developing my site.
I have also got an extremely complicated form to fill in, regarding my choices for the two coming years. The rules are supposed to be simple. Over the last three of the four years, I must take 360 credits, of which 180 must be in statistics. There are some modules I must take, and others I have been highly recommended to take. There is also the specialisation in pure, applied or statistics to take into account. I think I’ve found a way of doing it!
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