A good day out minus the football: Time to bin the xG talk and lose yourself again in Leicester City
If you’re wallowing in social media and messageboard misery ahead of Leicester City’s return to the Premier League, Becky Taylor has a message for you. You do love this stupid sport. Remember to enjoy it, yeah?
I'm honestly looking forward to this Leicester City season ahead, but I'll be clear from the start, it's not because of the actual football.
I'm so certain of a disastrous season I've already made peace with it. The 'expect the worst, hope for the best' mindset is concrete in my mind. This freedom has allowed me to get excited about the little things that contribute to my favourite Instagram caption for a matchday: 'A good day out minus the football'.
It's easy to get caught up in the cynicism that surrounds modern football, particularly Leicester City. How many points are we going to have deducted? What's going on with signings? Why is the club determined to be as detached as possible from it's fanbase? £10 to watch a friendly on a temperamental stream? Where are the goals coming from? I'll stop very short on the endless list.
Sometimes that makes us forget why the majority of us do it. It isn't for the new signing who will likely be at the club for 2 years at best (probably 3 if Mr Rudkin is on contract duty), nor for the style of play, nor to try and make sense of the PSR malarkey.
It's about the moments and who we spend them with.
Take Arsenal away as a prime example. We lose at the Emirates in hilarious fashion almost every time we set foot there, but you keep going back. What you recall when chatting about such games in years to come quickly moves on from football and instead about the day out in London. A ridiculous story from the train, the new pub you tried or the laughs shared from a random interaction you had.
There are endless memories I have from going to watch Leicester City that are nothing to do with the 90 minutes or even being in the stadium.
The football is simply a vehicle to have a good day out with your mates. Take this season for Leicester - imagine saying you're going for a day out in London 3 times in 5 weeks. Most people would think that's ridiculous. Change that to 3 away games that happen to be in London and it's completely acceptable.
Home matches aren't exempt from this notion either. The solace in the home game is often found in the routines. The meeting time and place known without anyone having to say anything, the lucky route to the ground or catching up with the person you only see in the concourse every other week from August to May. These habits are simple pleasures somewhat taken for granted.
Just as I read the 100th reason why I should be downbeat about the season ahead from group chats and twitter, I got a message from my 13-year-old brother telling me how excited he is for the Spurs game. Taking my brothers to games is something to cherish and their enthusiasm helps bring positivity to the most gloomy of situations.
I've made an agreement to myself to make the most of every matchday this season, whether it's try something or somewhere new, take time to appreciate the rituals or make the effort to connect with someone. And probably most importantly, aim to laugh rather than rage during a game, because we all know it's going to be bad.
I'm here to enjoy a banging pre-match burger from a fun place I've found on Instagram, to stumble across a random pub that's so bizarre you don't know if it's real life, or to bump into someone I haven't seen in years.
The joy of saying 'its football day' as you put your hand up to cross the road in front of cars or laughing at your mate's FPL team disaster in the early kick-off - they all make up the small things on matchday that don't involve your team trying to ruin your day.
I do stand by that celebrating a goal in an away end is one of life's great pleasures. I think a lot of that, though, is who you get to celebrate with and that togetherness. Realistically whether you've scored a 20-pass team goal or one’s gone in off someone's arse you celebrate like it's a worldie. It's the feeling in those moments of losing all inhibitions that stick with you, not the XG you created that day.
So let's try to not worry about the shit-show we are enduring and set to suffer throughout the season, and do our bit to focus on the little things we can control. Sing your hearts out, have a laugh, focus on the good people around you.
Somehow I'm sure we are going to outdo our 'Leicester City ridiculousness'. Only time will tell how, but let's all start out with a plan to enjoy ourselves along the way.
(See you in about 2 weeks for complete football-related head loss, yeah?)
