It was in August of 2017 that the eldest signed up for a life of what I suspected would be, at best, mediocrity and, perhaps more likely given Town's history, abject misery.
Nearly six years later, whatever effect that fairly dull 1-1 draw with Aldershot had, it paid off yesterday.
The 'glory hunter' remembered where he was born for the day and so both kids joined me and the Mrs for the drive down to London.
Beautiful weather, no real issues on the road and a JustPark booking near the stadium meant a stress-free build-up. Easy to forget the impact a big stadium can have on kids. The total crowd for both games was over 27 thousand. Yes, it looked empty and it's a long trip but so what. The Town players wont forget playing at Wembley and the kids won't forget watching them.
A 12.15 kickoff meant we didn't bother with Ascot v Newport Pagnell. The latter sold about 5 thousand tickets apparently. Ascot won. Again. Another set of players and fans having a 'big' day out.
The plan on social media had been that the barmies would be behind the goal in blocks 110 and 111. That changed when tickets went on sale. They ended up in 106. As did we. They were harmless enough, but as the game went on and their pals in other sections realised where all the fun was, they started moving up to 106. Aisles blocked meant stewards. And then coppers. I'm all for kids having a laugh, but I've never understood drinking until you can barely stand at a match. A lot of Mums will be washing very expensive lager stains out of CP Company tops today....
There was a brief moment when it nearly went off. You see it from a different perspective with kids there as I could sense the lad didn't see the funny side.
A couple of very sensible stewards, one young lad in particular, got stuff sorted. The two Met officers who stood and watched were fucking useless. Literally a waste of space.
The game wasn't a classic but that didn't matter.
There were signs again of where Town could end up and where they need to improve to get there. Season tickets will be on sale soon and the optimism will again return. We'll be back in M105 and M106 but there'll be new grounds to visit (Oxford City on the list as we've friends down there) and new players to see.
The smile on her face at the end was brilliant. She was absolutely flying. And he managed to go a whole day without mentioning Erling fucking Haaland.....
Happy Days
Before the invasion of the reissues......
