An away game at Burnley is always a strange time for me. I lived and worked there for two years and my brother has lived there for 17 years. Add to this that my brother is treasurer of the Burnley Town Twinning Association and you can see that it is difficult for me to get too antagonistic towards the Burnley fans. This does not, however, stop me singing the Chim-Chimenee song !-)
I set off early Saturday morning and after a quick lunch at Bro' Bob's we wandered into town for a quick pint before the match. We then took that last walk into enemy territory - or should I say enema territory because it certainly was a painful experience. To say we deserved to lose is no over statement. The fact that we were the first league team that Burnley had beaten this season was too upsetting for words. Needless to say it was a long walk up Manchester Road after the game.
Unfortunately, unlike most CUFC fans, it was not to end for me there. That Saturday night was, of course, also the night of the Italy v England World Cup match and I was staying the night at Bro' Bob's so that I could watch it on Sky. I had cancelled my Sky Sports and Sky Movies packages in August in protest at the latest price hike by that Evil Empire. Little did I know that my brother had invited in his neighbours and, yes, they were all Burnley fans! "That Matt Jansen is good, is he the one you are selling?", "I couldn't believe it when the third went in!" and similar comments abounded all night. Still, at least England did the business and we have a World Cup appearence to look forward to next summer. Although it was annoying as hell that there was trouble there (see my Editorial).
I rounded the weekend off with a visit to Winfields near Burnley to buy a new pair of trainers for playing soccer in. I am a goalie because I cannot play the ball with my feet. Why? Well 12 years of playing only Rugby will do that to a man........
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