05-01-2022, 09:12 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-01-2022, 09:13 AM by Rick Pumpkin.)
(04-01-2022, 10:42 PM)Wightblue Wrote: In my case Rick it’s nothing to do with the water but everything to to with the dross that’s been served up for the last 5 seasons !
You see Rick, I was brought up to something infinitely better than the current crap…the great football served up by the Pompey side of the late ‘40 and early ‘50s and a very honourable mention to ‘Arry’s Premiership sides (especially the golden period)
The seemingly never ending seasons in the lower divisions when we crashed out of the top flight were made easier by the terraces and their very considerable opportunity for banter with kindred spirits and the ability to move away from people you didn’t like (you could have moved elsewhere if you had found yourself next to me Rick).
I eventually moved into the Centre Section of the North Stand so my kids could join me, really missed the atmosphere of the terraces but stuck it out for 25 years until Jacket's second season finally broke my spirit (and, as I spend from New Years Eve until 1st May in Palm Springs every year, my season was somewhat wasted anyway).
I So Rick, in a nutshell, I have a great yearning for the wonderful football of ‘the good old days’ of Pompey’s heyday and regard the current offerings as like watching a Pompey tribute band - wearing the clothes, going through the motions but not much more (perhaps it’s being into my ‘80s which makes me so demanding).
I reacquaint myself with Fratton Park once a year for one of those corporate days, for the rest of the season its iFollow, if Pompey start to play the way the game should be played, to quote General Douglas McArthur “I shall return”.
With regard to Isle of Wight water, it’s fine….especially when diluted with Laphroaig 10 year old.
Wight, all fair points but just to point out my tongue was in my cheek when I wrote that last post.
I started watching in '72 when the club was arguably in decline, have since watched everything from Ballie's teams, Harry's teams through to Richie Barker and even kept my season ticket going when I lived in Scottsdale so I could sit with friends on my visits home. Jackett did for me, too, and I stopped renewing in 2019, now choosing when to take the almost 400-mile round trip to watch games at FP. Call it what you will (madness, stupidity, lunacy, etc.) but I still look forward to watching Pompey, albeit just not as often as previously, and it's an opportunity to have a beer with friends, see family and just enjoy being at FP. I don't think I'll ever lose that and the only negative as time rolls on is that my son is in his 30s, moved out years ago and football doesn't feature as highly for him, so tends not to watch many games nowadays.
Enjoy Palm Springs (do they still have the aerial tramway there?) and keep taking the Laphroaig.
But back to the OP - Close was a better player than many gave him credit for, has played well at Doncaster and I strangely agree with Deep's reply to Cowes.