Easter egg-stravagnza? Bank holiday promotion awaits!
Posted on March 31st, 2010 | 67 Comments |
In fact it could well all be over by the time we roll back into work on Tuesday, bleary-eyed, hungover but feeling a happiness inside that as fans we haven’t felt for so long now. Two games is all it could take to bring that happiness back, happiness formed on proving so called ‘experts’ wrong, winning games and seeing the team pull together despite the odds that were monumentally stacked against us at the start of the season. I have loved life in the Championship and in a way it has reignited my love affair with football. It was never dying out, don’t get me wrong, but perhaps over the years I had become fed up with the false dawns, the constant turmoil, the seeing us performing as eleven individuals and not a team, the mediocrity of what we had become in the Premier League. This season has given us all a goal, all a reason to ultimately pull in same direction, something we have all done.
So what awats us? Ultimately promotion at Peterborough on Saturday afternoon could be a very real possibility. We are top of the league and look nailed on for promotion whereas the Posh are bottom of the table and look nailed on for relegation. I’d like to think we can take all 3 points at London Road and leave the ball firmly in the court of Nottingham Forest, the only team that can realistically catch us. They play at Bristol City at the same time as us and need to avoid defeat to prolong the inevitable until bank holiday Monday. Selfishly I hope they lose and we win. Promotion secured at the earliest possible opportunity with me in town to see it, and if that should happen then Peterborough wont know what has hit it as I, along with many other Geordies, will more than likely head into town for a few celebratory sherbets.
On the other hand, if results don’t go our way then it could roll over to Monday. If Forest can pick up a point at Ashton Gate then we will need to win against Sheffield United in the bank holiday Monday evening kick-off to ensure the job is done. That would surely be the most fitting tribute to the fans. Securing promotion in front of live TV cameras at what should be a packed St James’ Park which has been a fortress for us this season.
Ultimately, promotion is still not secured and there is still a job to do. That minimum job is to match Nottingham Forest’s results over the next 2 games, that’s all we have to do. I can’t see them picking up 3 points at a rejuvinated Bristol City, certainly not the Bristol City that we played so recently. I also can’t see us losing at Peterborough, a draw maybe, but I have every confidence that this set of players will see us get the job done.
The Championship has been a wonderful experience but I’ll be glad to get out of it. Every fan should want to see their team in the top league, and I’m no different in that respect. Regardless of that though, relegation has been a humbling event. Mixing with the majority of fans of other teams in the Championship has been a pleasure, they are real football fans who support their teams regardless of success,a lot like us, and I personally wish them all the best.
Well, apart from Cardiff and my own personal gripe with Nottigham Forest, they can get stuffed!
NUFCBlog Author: toonsy
toonsy has written 643 articles on this blog.
Haven’t read the article properly yet but nice picture, Toonsy.