On Tuesday we travel behind the now Scrap Iron Curtain to try and start the Champions League campaign with a positive result. We have negotiated the qualifier against arguably the best team in the former Soviet Socialist Republic in a game that will live forever in the minds of us all. It was indeed a strange feeling waking up on that Thursday morning after the Spartak game, head thumping, spinning, somersaulting and triple toe salkoing all at the same time in far out psycadelia colour. When suddenly your brain kicks in with "We Won"! That day of hangover hell passed in a haze of delight, pride and relief. We have all suffered the agonies at the last hurdle with our team, we have seen victory torn from our clutches, we have seen our own players sink us with a mixture of stupidity and lack of ability, but on that night we won, we played great football, we fought well against a great team and in the end we triumphed.
Our recent history in away legs prior to the Spartak game has been nothing short of disgraceful. We have embarrassed ourselves and given those who hate us all the mileage for negative copy that we are so sick of. I myself, well not myself with my brothers and my mates have endured 10 away defeats. After the last one in Lisbon, my mate Eddie, turned to the rest of us and said, " Maybe its ****** us"! Some of us decided that we would give it a rest, for a number for reasons:
1. Ten defeats in a row tend to get you down.
2. It costs a lot of money to be so depressed.
3. Ten defeats in a row tend to get you down.
4. Depression of that order can be achieved through simply watching Soap's. And finally.
5. Ten defeats in a row tend to get you down.
So now after the recent form and the overcoming of Spartak, whom most of us felt were too much of a task, feel that it is now a real possibility that we can get some results away from home. This level of optimism is such that none of us has booked up for the first games. We have been to Lisbon, Milan and don't fancy the trip to the Ukraine, but that is not the only reason, we actually all believe that we can progress through the group stages and enter into the next round. I have a hunch that we will draw Madrid in the last 16 and put them out as well. No, I haven't been on the Malts this early, I actually believe it. I think we will need to strengthen the defence but I truly believe it can be done. It is good to see that prices for the game over there at £1 a brief. It shows you how much of a difference having billions of oil money can make and was wondering if there were any dodgy oil barons out there who could throw a couple of billion our way.
So Tuesday, even writing that made the butterflies in my stomach crawl out from the under my Saturday morning fry up, and beat the grease of their wings cursing. I hope and pray (in an atheist sort of way) that we can get a result, even a draw, but to be honest I think we will win. And if we do, if we can manage it we are truly on our way in a European context and this team could develop into the best we have had since we last lifted the trophy. They say football is the beautiful game and that is true, particularly backed up with the Scotland game, a night of pride and disbelief, next week we have a chance to take that another step, and you know what, I think we will.
Hail Hail.