Ruf is off to London today.
His first visit to Wembley’s new stadium.
His beloved Aston Villa have made it through to the final of what used to be the League Cup. Their first chance at some home-grown silverware since 1994, so he’s very very excited. As a season ticket holder, he is automatically guaranteed the opportunity to buy a ticket.
He’s also feeling a bit poorly, suffering with man ‘flu. It was so bad that he even considered giving his ticket to someone else. But he’s made the trip and, hopefully, will have a lovely day ‘with the boys’.
Of course, the other finalists are not going to be making things easy. It’s Manchester United, that team that most of the rest of the world support. But who, over here, are regarded with a rather curmudgeonly distaste because they have the money and the squad to be able to keep world beaters on the bench. They used to be out there on their own because they had gone into huge amounts of debt to be able to buy and pay such players. And then they just won everything.
However, in recent years, they have been joined by Chelsea and now, Manchester City, both owned by foreign billionaires who pump money into their clubs and perpetuate a cycle which means that only the top clubs earn the most from the various competitions because they can afford to recruit huge squads containing the world’s best players and win every competition on offer.
Aston Villa are in the top seven Clubs in our Premiership, with a small squad of mostly British players and a much-loved manager in Martin O’Neill. The epitome of the polite and erudite football manager. Eloquent in the extreme with some charming catchphrases.
I suspect that a large proportion of the country will be supporting the team in claret and blue.
And, for Ruf, I hope you will all keep your fingers crossed for them.
Me, I can’t decide whether to watch it on the television this afternoon or not. Every time I do watch, they lose! In the semi-final, I watched for ten minutes and saw them concede two goals. The instant I switched the tv off, they got one back and eventually won 6-4… without me viewing.
So, you can understand my reluctance.
I don’t want him to blame me if they lose.
Good Luck Boys!
Or, as Ruf would say, Up The Villa!!
Hoping Ruf feels at the top of his game to cheer on his team.
The moneyed teams are similar to the situation in baseball in the states with the rNew York Yankees, by far the richest team, able to buy anyone they want. Terrible for the game. But this does not means that they always win.
Sadly, yet again, it did today :( I hate money in sport. It is also responsible for fans not being able to get tickets for important matches like the Cup Final in which their team is featuring… because a lot of the seats go to corporate entertaining – many of whom will be at the bar networking for most of the 90 minutes
Chelsea Trikot Lampard M, blau (Preis vom 15.04. 01:05)Chelsea Trikot Lampard M, blau: Chelsea Trikot Lampard Drogba blau, weiss, schwarz Chelsea Trikot Lampard BLAU 1x Chelsea Trikot, Sie können sich eine von den Grössen und Spielernamen aussuchen. Verfügbare Namen: Lampard, Drogba Verfügbare Farben: ….