Sunday may yet be weirdest day of all
BLUE-EYED BOY’S BLACKBURN VIEW
ITOLD you this would go to the wire, didn’t I? Rovers have occasionally sorted their destiny out with a game or two to spare – Matt Jansen’s tumultuous winner at Deepdale in 2001 followed by an unburdened awayday at Gillingham to enjoy, the Third Division triumph in 1975 sealed at Vale Park with a celebratory Monday night at home to Wrexham to stroll through hungover and that wonderful night at Gigg Lane as Howard Kendall’s side confirmed their return to Full Members of the Football League status was followed on the Saturday after by an almost-erasedfrom-memory Ewood defeat to the self-same Shakers which was forgiven by all in the pervading euphoria despite starting the day with an outside chance of sneaking the title.
Relegations – and I’ve fully experienced the misery of just four of those, not having really realised at age seven what would become the long-term significance of dropping out of the top flight in the World Cup summer of ’66 – have generally been confirmed with a game or two, if not weeks, to absorb the glum repercussions.
Last-day all-or-nothing finishes have been relatively rare with a couple of exceptions, most notably of course the time-stoodstill moments which saw fleeting seconds of incalculable shock and misery almost instantly morph into unfettered ecstasy at Anfield in 1995.
Even in the joy of winning promotion in 1992, matchwinner Mike Newell denied us three or four minutes of cigars-out relaxation in the Wembley caldera by missing his second penalty!
The play-off spots of 1988, 1989,1990 and 1992 (although the final table shows you that even a defeat in that Speedie hattrick game at Plymouth wouldn’t have mattered) were all clinched pretty late although never did we have the luxury Huddersfield Town were afforded last weekend of being able to field a virtual reserve XI for the second-last game – a questionable if understandable decision which was always going to raise an eyebrow or two as we hoped The Terriers would present Birmingham with rather more formidable opposition.
Personally, I think it would have been just as easy – and possibly just as unethical if wholly unprovable – for David Wagner to send his usual team out with instructions to go meekly through the motions and avoid bookings, injuries and even 50-50 challenges and such.
You could argue that in ’88 we got the benefit of playing a Millwall side who had clearly been on the pop all week
Certainly on Saturday last we got the benefit of playing a Villa side who could not possibly have been any less competitive or ‘at it.’
Rovers did the job they had to do well but they could not have wished to be provided with a more weak, submissive foe on a day a win was imperative.
The tenner tickets generated a large enough home following to match the travelling Claret and Blue Army and it all made for a happy, positive afternoon of togetherness in the sunshine.
The convivial atmosphere throughout and at the end was how you’d want to send the team off into a crucial decider. I thought the players’ and managers’ understated but appreciative gestures to the Ewood crowd at the end were pitched just right. It wasn’t a day or circumstance for parading round on a “lap of honour” however much the kids enjoy that kind of thing.
That may well be – and I desperately hope I’m wrong – the last game with such a “big match” feel at Ewood for some time as you couldn’t imagine Wigan, Oldham, Bury or Rochdale actually filling the Darwen End if we came down and Bolton have booked the kind of swift return we all hope for but somehow doubt we’re capable of engineering if the worst happens.
But for all we’ve been through and experienced down the decades, this Sunday could be the strangest and weirdest day of all.
Who could ever envisage that there could be an afternoon of football when a win might not be good enough but a defeat theoretically could be in the right circumstances?
If us, Birmingham and Forest all win and there is no difference in the mar- gin of Forest’s and our victories, we’re down. If we lose 1-0 and Forest (unlikely I know but stranger things happen) lose 3-0 at home to Ipswich, we’ll be dancing in the streets of NW London, or in my case, Penwortham.
The happiest outcome for me would be for both Rovers and Forest to win and Birmingham to lose at Bristol City perhaps undeservedly clearing Huddersfield of any responsibility for anyone’s plight.
It’s such a likelihood that there will be twists and turns from first minute to last though that Sky have seized upon the games at the bottom for live coverage rather than the somewhat academic matters of which play-off side finishes in which spot and plays who.
I sincerely hope those lucky enough to have secured sold-out tickets for Brentford’s away seats and terraces enjoy the day, see a Rovers’ performance they can be satisfied with and most importantly spend the return leg of the journey celebrating.
For now, all that need be said is to wish the manager, staff, players and travelling fans all the very best for a monumentally important day.