Ah well....back from ‘The Smoke’ with a broken heart. An abject display from the boys in laser blue as Chewsea tore us apart.A great day out though. We set off at 8:30ish from Manchester and arrived at the Travelodge Battersea around 11:45. A quick shower and change of clothing and we decide to walk to Stamford Bridge as a) it’s a lovely, sunny, spring day and b) the geographically-challenged receptionist told us it was only a mile. Just short of an hour later we arrive – late - at The East Stand where our hosts for the day (SCC) meet us and take us up to the DiMatteo suite.
An excellent 3 course meal, as much free alcohol as you want, and a great game of football to look forward to. Doh – well two out of three ain’t bad !
Our seats were in the Director’s area. Stuart Pierce sat in front of us, Glenn Hoddle, Manu Petit, DiMatteo himself and Frank Lampard Snr could all be seen behind us. The sun shone down on an impressive Stamford Bridge and, for 35 minutes, I thought “we could get something here”. Then Zola wove his magic and started a goal fest and, 5-0 later we are all back in the DiMatteo suite drowning our sorrows in yet more free loony-juice.
Our little party finally left at around 8:00pm with Chewsea goodie-bags and bottles of Chewsea wine. A few drinks in pubs round the ground and on the King’s road before catching a Taxi back to the hotel. Sad to say he tried ripping us off by taking us all over the place. When we pointed out that we weren’t too happy, the £9.00 fare became £5.00 remarkably easily.
Full of the ‘good ideas’ that only excessive drinking can produce, we decided that a quick shower and change of clothes was in order before we went out for the evening. 30 minutes later we are walking towards Battersea Bridge Road stinking of freshly applied aftershave. We come across a pub called The Asparagus and venture inside. A truly soulless place; devoid of atmosphere. It was like drinking in an upmarket Doctor’s waiting room. I guess that kind of killed our enthusiasm and, within 15 minutes, we were walking back to the hotel. Bed followed at 11:00-ish.
To make things worse Man United had gone back to top of the League after beating Fulham 3-0 !
Still at least I’m not in Iraq being killed by my fellow coalitionists.
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