Winner gets £900,000
Loser gets £450,000
Att 85,416
930am and called at my
daughters to pick up Darren and James and off to Wembley for the semi-final
against Liverpool. Arrived at Wealdstone Football Club around 1030 am to find
the place packed with Villa supporters. 6/8 coaches and loads of mini buses and
cars. The club house is actually Ruislip Social Club and what a great setup the
whole thing is. Just around the corner is Ruislip Underground station and is
approx 7 stops from Wembley. Club officials were telling me they had permission
to cater for 600 fans on the day. Saw one official who was grinning from ear to
ear. Must have been the Treasurer!! Great for the club, great for the supporters and win win for everybody.
On site was a burger van and I had a sausage and bacon bap. The problem was
that the sausage was massive and the bap didn’t hold it all together very well.
Consequently I had a job holding it all and found I was lunging at a double
handful of it all and eating the napkin as well. No more of them!!
Eventually
went to the tube and off to Wembley. Usual atmosphere along Wembley way.
Looking at the burger bars and ‘fish and chips’ stands you got the feeling that
you were entering ‘Rip-Off’ City. No, you WERE entering. Confirmed, cup of tea
£2.20.
My seat was up in the gods and having climbed a few set of steps the
rest we went up on an escalator. Got in the queue for a cup of tea. The bloke
in front of me asked for 2 pints of peroni. The lady returned with 2 pints and
said “that will be £19 please”. After I had helped the guy to his feet and
administered smelling salts the lady explained that a bottle of peroni was £4.75
and each pint contained 2 bottles. Mmm. Gotcha!!
Got to my seat just before
Kick-Off and wished I’d brought my Binoculars. Probably the furthest I’ve been from
the players at a live match. However, I thoroughly enjoyed the game and the
view not a problem. The first 15 minutes were a little bit of teams finding
their feet. On half an hour the ball broke into the Villa
area and Coutinho was on hand to bury it. Great to see that Villa continued to
play a somewhat expansive game compared to that employed under Lambert. Where
has Grealish been all season?? Radio West Midlands have beeanging on saying the
same thing all season. Playing very well the ball was fed through into the area
and who else was on hand to equalise but Benteke. What a handful he is. Villa
fans absolutely ecstatic around me. After Villa equalised I felt that Liverpool
were just not functioning and that if any side were to score next it would be
Villa. After 54 minutes Delph , with some great individual skill, put Villa in
front with an excellent goal. Very impressed with Delph and others including
Grealish. I went to see Villa get beat 3-0 by Everton at Goodison in October.
After which I advised some to get their money on for them to be relegated.
Maybe they will still be relegated but Sherwood has got them playing excellent
football. Liverpool pressed but to no avail. I think Gerrard has played one
season too many at Liverpool. A feeling I picked up from their supporters in
the previous 2 games. Final whistle and Villa into the Final. What chance have
I got to get a ticket. Very slim I fear.
Back to Wealdstone and Ruislip Social Club. Stayed an hour or so then back home. 194 miles round trip and now accumulated 3,036 miles. Could have driven to North Africa and Back.
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