Sheffield United vs Watford

UTB 39
In the end, we did make Wigan with
oodles of time to spare. The suite was
lovely, and the staff there are sound. Mal
Brannigan, our former CEO is there and
came to find us and make a fuss. Each
table had the usual - programmes, a gift
bag and the obligatory match day quiz.
Now, I always have a go on this, and the
joy that can be gained from it is limitless.
Imagine, a guest on the table from a rival
club having the chance to take part, win
and humiliate those around? I’ve done
it before and some by winning theirs at
Hillsborough before a derby by the way.
Only got two wrong out of a possible 30.
Nearest to me got 20! As I was invited up
to receive a magnum of champagne, I was
given the chance to say a few words. Oh,
I did. I took great pleasure in informing
every one of them that they had just lost in
their own suite by a fully-fledged, lifelong
Blade. How they all laughed! My host, a
former United director pointed out that
I may have needed an escort out of the
stadium had I carried on. They couldn’t hit
the back of the net that night let alone me!
Anyhow, back to the tale. As a table,
we did the same again and only got two
wrong. Quality, so a table of Blades knew
more about Wigan and its players than a
room full of Latics fans! The prize was a
huge jar of blue and white Wigan sweets.
Sadly, none of them were gobstoppers, so
it was fair game to wind a few of them up.
It was amazing how badly some of them
took it. Some really sour comments about
cheating and using Google. Honestly,
I have never been that desperate to win or
own anything in those colours in my life,
but along with the win the sours in there
tasted so much sweeter as we waved
a cheery goodbye to all at the end and
headed back to the car for a victorious
journey home! As we left, I saw our former
manager Adrian Heath. Bizarrely he
recognised me which is truly incredible
being as he didn’t have the longest of
spells here. Nice lad though. That as may
be, he didn’t get one of my victorious
winning sweets. No chance.
The journey back was made longer by
the slip road to the M6 being closed for
work. I mean, why would you ever take
into account thousands of footy fans
fighting their way back from a Monday
night kick off Christmas week? That would
be plain silly, wouldn’t it? Couldn’t blame
Liam for that one, so I just blamed him for
everything else!
Free sweets from Wigan and three
points. It was a Happy Christmas from
Lancashire indeed!
▲ John spotted former Blades boss Adrian Heath
SHEFFIELD UNITED vs WATFORD