Lockdown has given me the opportunity to really appreciate things that I had previously taken for granted. Things such as seeing my family when I want, getting a proper haircut, my favourite takeaway and much more, but something else was added to the list last Saturday.
I’m far from a creature of habit, but where football is concerned I have been going long enough that the same ritual has become tradition. It is either an early alarm call for a long distance away game, or a a lie-in before gearing up for an afternoon at the Kenny.
The game itself is obviously the centre point of attention throughout the day, but it is the whole package around that which makes a football day so complete. I go to football with two members of my family and we meet up with the same friends to enjoy the day together.
The routine usually involves keeping the local KFC out of administration and often pre-match beers, but that was made to change last week because although football was back, our regular, traditional Saturday was not.
Instead of Kenilworth Road, it was an iFollow stream for our football fix – that was when it eventually worked, of course.
Thankfully, Boris Johnson has lifted some of the restrictions, which meant my family could join me in watching the game via a TV we set up in the garden, but it wasn’t anything like the same.
There was no clicking of the turnstile and that hum of the terrace that makes you fall in love with the game. There was no passionate chanting, nor nervous energy that you feel, watching every kick, even though it was the same product we were watching, just via different means.
Everywhere we look there are reminders of the pandemic we have endured and continue to experience, and each time the Town play over the next eight matches will serve as further indications of the ‘new normal’.
Hopefully, the world can return to the old normal at some point and we can all get back to enjoying our Saturdays at the Kenny as soon as possible.
