Hazzetta dello Sport: Blackburn, Bologna and… Balague again
Welcome to this week’s ‘Harca’, given the current Spanish feel to proceedings. It’s not the sighting of Guillem Balague slumming it at Knutsford Services McDonalds on Monday which has turned us all Espanyol but rather while you are reading this I shall be supping on a mug of Horchata (look it up you uncultured swines) and chomping on Churros in the morning sun of Valencia.
After all, I was so confident that we get promoted and become champions that I booked myself up in January for a friend’s stag party.
Of course, the alternative could have been hunting down an Irish bar in an anxiety-affected mess to try and find a television screen showing the game. Thankfully, football anxiety is a thing of the past this week until August. Breathe. Ahh, if I breathe too hard I can feel the well-worn nodes of my vocal cords.
Deepdale was that good. In fact, I didn’t think as a fanbase we had that level of performance in us anymore. The days of success left us jaded but the energy that derived from the Bill Shankly Kop was on a level which continually draws you back in because you know we are capable of that. We were one. From the moment I left Preston train station to see five City fans wearing scarves, I knew it was going to be a good night. As the time ticked on, the city of Preston became invaded. Royal Blue and White.
The cruellest realisation as a football supporter is when it dawns on you that a huge part of fandom is centred around nostalgia. For years, you rally against the notion of living in the past but at the very root of it, you hanker for the moments from childhood. When I do one of my forays abroad and particularly Italy, it speaks to the child in me.
The matchday experience caters less to the needs of television, is less organised and there’s a mentality of union. When I wandered around Stadio Dall’Ara in Bologna this February and looked towards the stands or pitch, it fitted with that idea in my head from Saturday mornings watching Gazzetta on Channel 4. The child in me was excited. The colours. The noise.
Monday evening could have been in 1994. The balloons, the inflatables, the joyous occasion. The right side of unruliness. People were merry but not falling over drunk. Maybe the pyrotechnics were something new (it appears Taurus season turns City fans into pyromaniacs – Rome was the last occasion so many were let off). Beautifully nostalgic. An away day didn’t feel grey – it felt like Bologna in February. In technicolour.
Also nostalgic was that the squad related back to the O’Neill team of the late nineties by adopting their approach to alcohol consumption. It did feel as though the starting eleven on Monday were those who had consumed the least. Since last Friday, there hasn’t been a picture of Mads Hermansen where he’s not holding a bottle of beer.
Attention arrives to Saturday where two teams are in very different moods. There’s anticipation to see the Vardy tifo which has been revealed to extend across two stands. There’s been plenty written about Vardy’s powers waning and some of it correctly so. However, the latest renaissance of four goals in three games has changed opinion that maybe he will stick around and try to add to his 136 Premier League goals. After all, Enzo Maresca himself said ‘Jamie Vardy is Leicester. Jamie Vardy has always scored goals and even when he is 45 years old, he will score goals. Goals are in his blood.’ Fair play there Enzo - that’s straight out of the Italian footballing lexicon.
The undercard to that is the more likely departure of Marc Albrighton whose appearances this season have been fleeting. The serenade of Albrighton post-match at Deepdale was touched with a bit of sadness that he hasn’t featured more. Admittedly, at times his legs have looked weary but that ability to ping a cross right on the money can be a handy talent chasing a game. It should be remembered earlier this season he led the Foxes out at Dean Court in the FA Cup and that would be a worthy way to finish if he doesn’t appear at Saturday lunchtime.
Our opposition, Blackburn, have just about done enough to avoid relegation. It would require three results to go against them and some goal difference swings. It brings back memories of their last visit to Filbert Way. A Cup upset where we looked an utter shambles and Rovers felt as though they had one of the upcoming managers of the division, Jon Dahl Tomasson. That turned sour over the following months and now they find themselves just keeping their head above water. Enjoy what you have why it lasts.
There are unresolved matters going into the Championship’s final day. Ipswich need a point to secure promotion and complete a fabulous achievement. West Brom must draw at least over Preston and avoid Hull catching them up. The real humdinger is Birmingham having to do another last day escape act. Norwich may wish to rest players or make sure they are 5th. Who knows? Plymouth must hope Birmingham don’t win or they don’t fail against Hull. The Humberside club are, of course, chasing West Brom. It feels perfect to round this off to say if Plymouth didn’t beat the Foxes three weeks ago, they’d have been as good as down right now. Yeah, that’s how we roll.
Final word of the season goes to the Championship. The division of mill towns you could arrogantly call it. It’s a league which shows the true depth of the country’s love for the sport. Plenty of well attended clubs and smaller clubs which will upset you too. From the North-East to the South-West. It’s competitive and right now, free of football’s ills such as VAR. As a fan it has been most welcome to diversify the away trips. Visit grounds and venues of the past but see them with retrospective eyes.
Of the current seventeen clubs playing in next year’s Premier League, you could say it’s seven cities to visit. London possesses seven clubs. Manchester and Liverpool have two each. Birmingham have Villa and if travelling by train that’s your route on towards Wolverhampton. Newcastle, Brighton and Bournemouth remain. Might as well sort out a train season ticket to London now.
That’s it for Harca / the Hazzetta until August. Lots to do in the summer - including getting married.
Peace out.
