An early start yesterday. 6.55 train out of Newcastle. At Durham dozens of men in black and white striped football shirts get on. I thought they were Newcastle fans going down to Upton Park to see the Mags play the Hammers. But the accents were wrong. Too County Durham and more like a Mackem accent. Then I remembered that Spennymoor United were in the FA Vase final at Wembley. Drinking at 7:30 in the morning is too hardcore for me these days and so I settled down to read The Guardian and listen to my MP3 player.
I was met at Kings Cross by my son and after breakfast in a Fullers Pub ( The Euston Flyer on Euston Road) we were off to South East London to Selhurst Park.
Posh had over 2,500 fans there and did we make a noise. We went ahead, they equalised , we went ahead again and Kevin Philips equalised again for Palace.
Two minutes to go we were staying up as Huddersfield and Barnsley were drawing. Then Palace scored and we went quiet, We knew we were down.Tears from players and crowd at the end and back home I came after a consolation pint- on the 17:30 train to avoid returning Newcastle fans and their probable talk of relegation after a draw with West Ham . If we had stayed up I would have stayed the night but the defeat took it out of me even though in my heart I knew we were in danger of relegation.
Yesterday was a sad day but that was then and today is about moving on. It is only football after all and Shankley was wrong its not more important than life. Although at 3 pm yesterday afternoon I wasn't quite so certain that life was more important than football. And today I'll bet my son is still wondering.
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