Not mad about football, but...come on, you Foxes!
UNLIKE my son I have never been an enthusiastic supporter of football. As a young boy I was allowed to watch Peterborough before they were elected to the Football League.
I suppose I was only eight or nine years old at the time and I do believe I went on my own and stood behind the goal at the London Road end. However, each week I used to listen to the radio at 5pm to hear the football results and particularly Leicester City.
That was the first side I ever saw play football and I still watch for their results. I will be watching the FA Cup final this year to see if they can win it for the first time ever. From 1954 I did watch Watford and do hope that one day they can win the cup. I am pleased that they have been promoted back to the Premier League at the first time of asking after relegation last season.
I am delighted that Peterborough have been promoted to the Championship although sad that this may be at the expense of Derby being relegated. I am not a keen follower of Derby although I did enjoy some occasions I had to watch them from the directors’ box when Jim Smith was in charge. Since then my interest has owed a lot to the fact that the guy who took care of my business accounts became a close friend. Sadly, he died recently and, as an avid supporter, he attended all Derby County matches at home and away for many years. He became a close friend and we attended many Test matches at Trent Bridge together.
I know if he was still alive he would be watching the match results for the bottom of the Championship for the final games of the season. As I write I do not know if Derby have managed to survive for another season in the Championship. I am not a supporter of Derby (but I always want them to beat Nottingham!), and I want them to stay in the Championship for the memory of my good friend.
The bank holiday weekend actually found me glued to the television screen watching the snooker world championship. It is many years since I have watched the excitement from the Crucible Theatre, and almost expected to see Steve Davis pick up his cue as a player rather than summariser! He was my mother’s favourite player although I was never sure she actually understood the technicalities of the game!
This year I found myself supporting Mark Selby, the Jester from Leicester. Both he and Shaun Murphy are quite brilliant players and at times I felt Murphy might win. Mark Selby won by three clear frames, yet Shaun Murphy made the most generous and humorous runner’s-up speech I have ever heard in any sport.
The final was excellent but the end-game interviews were both outstanding and a credit to both players in front of an enthusiastic crowd.