WHAT ARE NEIGHBOURS FOR?Oh, dear! I have it on good authority that my Gillingham supporting next door neighbour took his wife to Adams Park, Wycombe, yesterday in the hope of seeing their beloved Gills gain the one point they needed to stave off relegation. Well, sadly for them, the Gills went down 3-0 to the Chairboys of Wycombe Wanderers who themselves had already been relegated to League Two.
No surprise then that this morning curtains are still drawn next door, there is an eerie silence and an aura of depression surrounding their house. I and the rest of our football mad street will share in their grief, as most of us (except perhaps the posy Chelsea fan just up the road) have been there, done that and got the tee shirt. My own club have, of course, suffered relegation from the Premier League and also the Championship, so I know the feeling all too well.
So, what to do this morning? I can`t really bring myself to knock on the door as I know that at times like this, you really just want to be left alone, but being a neighbouly soul, if they want to talk about it with someone who has been there and understands then my door is always open. After all, what are neighbours for but to offer sympathy and hope at times like this?
Yet is there any hope? Can there be for a team that has failed to win a single game away from home all season? For a club that consigns its visitors to standing in a roofless, scaffolding-supported `stand` throughout an incessant deluge and a narrow defeat? Somehow, I have my doubts. But they might console themselves with the thought that this might be an opportunity, rather than simply a relegation. They might invoke the gallows humour of the Southend fans at St. Mary`s yesterday who know how to handle despair and disappointment and who lustily sang the song that Gillingham can now join in. It goes like this:-
`Que sera, sera,
Whatever will be, will be,
We`re going to Shrewsbury,
Que sera, sera.`
(Anon.)
2 comments:
Well neighbour, thanks for the empathy. It was all very hard to take. I've now witnessed my 5th relegation in my 43 years (call an ambulance) countered by 4 promotions. Most of both of those in the past 10 years. This one though was the hardest to accept given that the others, come the season end, were almost foregone conclusions (relegation at Forest from the Championship aside). This one required three other teams to get a result, and us not to. We were at an already relegated side with the second worst home record in the Division. We'd effectively made it a home game, selling our allocation in double quick time. All perfectly set up. And then the game started. And we were totally outplayed, out-thought, and worst of all, out-fought. Clueless! As our fate become clear, anger and in-fighting was the sad backdrop to the final denouement. Nine of us went up in hope, and returned in absolute silence (other than a bout of snoring in the back). But I'm getting over it, the curtains were drawn back, the dog got three walks (whether she wanted it or not) and life goes on. Who needs another trip to St Mary's when we can go to Underhill instead. Final word or two to the good people of Wycombe. The stewards were first class despite some provocation. They were friendly, polite and helpful. The locals didn't object to giving over their pub for the lunchtime slot, and their fans around the ground were civilised in the extreme, no gloating, just a 'we know how you feel' empathy. Just like the neighbours
Thanks, HoL. Your comments would have made an excellent blog entry of their own, so I don`t feel I can add anything. But you`re welcome to come to St. Mary`s any time if you fancy a nice ferry ride.
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