.jpg)
League form was consigned to the back of our minds, mercifully if only temporarily, as this FA Trophy interlude featured one of the more intriguing draws we've had in the competition for some time – but would it be more like Barrow in 2013/14 or, at the opposite end of our 'good day out (tainted by 90 minutes of football)' scale, Halesowen in 2019/20?
England vs Serbia with G.M. on Thursday night, and in the Globe beforehand, the Magpies' embarrassing 2–2 draw vs the lower-division Yeltz cropped up in conversation with G.M.'s Reading-supporting mate Adam, as – randomly – it had been his very first MUFC game! The World Cup Qualifier at Wembley Stadium was a wet one, and persistent rain continued into and throughout the following day, meaning that the match at Leamington was in some doubt until a Twitter announcement on Saturday morning just as I was about to meet at the top of the road with Macleod (M) and Sandeep (whose wife is from the Warwickshire spa town, and who would be attending his first MUFC away game since the calamitous midweek hiding at Altrincham in January)
After a brisk walk to the station (fly-tipping among the conversation topics) and an agreeably straightforward train journey via Reading – with unfavourable comparisons made between today's MUFC strike force and the one featuring Rocky Baptiste in 2008/09 – we met with Solihull Steve, aka the Sweetie Blinder, as scheduled, and began our pub crawl with decent pints of Purity at the Fizzy Moon Brewhouse
Mobbed up! Chris Rad., KK, Phil W., and Stuart had joined us, and there were more Magpies in the Benjamin Satchwell – but no TWS, who had taken the conscious decision to miss only his second game in 11 years! ("Yh all sweet mate just had enough of spending all my money watching that shower of shit")
Into the Boiler Room, which was good, before we managed to catch a significantly delayed 665 bus from outside the Crown Hotel – some home fans on the journey pointed out the site of their old ground (now houses) ... mournfully, and understandably so, as their current one is in the middle of nowhere and would've drawn sharper criticism if we hadn't recently suffered the misfortune of visiting AFC Totton
No Josh Popoola ("He makes me happy") in the starting lineup, but that baffling choice doesn't entirely explain another abysmal performance from those wearing red – somehow we were only one down at half-time to the side propping up National League North, with just two goals in seven games and no win since 2nd September (when we were midway through our six-game winning run, smashing Bath City at Twerton Park with a passable impression of Brazil's 1970 World Cup–winning team)
Game over, in truth, when the Brakes got a second not long after the restart, with the justifiably agitated away fans (among the 412-strong crowd) now longing for the final whistle and steeling themselves ahead of inevitable recriminations – for the record, Phil W. and I had already retreated to the bar well before Sandeep captured his Pulitzer Prize-worthy footage
There was a rumour in the Urban Fox, as we ate Indian food and drowned sorrows, that our greatest ever manager (x2) had been sacked – and that would have been the correct call, IMO, as his previously inexhaustible credit has completely whittled away … but it soon became clear that Alan Dev remained in situ, and, regrettably, had doubled down in a rare post-match interview
Our Chairman has achieved much to be proud of at the football club during the two decades he and his family have owned Maidenhead United, but I think his unwavering loyalty to managers who are no longer deserving (Carl Taylor, Drax, now Dev) has been a notable weakness – so, where exactly does he think we go from here? ("Winslow, presumably")
Nothing really matters… sang Macleod (M) in duet with a blonde-haired member of a hen party on karaoke in the Portland Arms; I always enjoy it in there, but on this occasion, the vocal talents of variable quality were no distraction – there was no escaping the nagging sense that this had been another good day out (tainted by 90 minutes of football) a nightmarish day with potentially seismic repercussions :-(
"I approached the fans with the intention of thanking them for travelling" https://t.co/uFd8T5jx6Z pic.twitter.com/ZCqEGMljfu
— ɢᴏ ᴍᴀᴅ ᴏʀ sᴛᴏᴘ ᴄᴀʀɪɴɢ (@gomadstopcaring) November 17, 2025
No comments:
Post a Comment