My name is Dan, and I support Aston Villa. There, I’ve said it!
In truth, following the arrival of Martin O’Neill (A.K.A The Messiah) as manager three years ago, uttering the above statement has shrunk into a much milder form of social embarrassment, and revolutionised afternoons spent watching 11 men in claret & blue kick around a piece of leather into a generally pleasant experience.
Living in the capital however means home games can be a struggle to attend on a regular basis, so I’m often on the lookout for fixtures against London opposition, and spotted this weekend’s clash against Tottenham on the horizon a few weeks back.
Before getting tickets, I asked around a few friends to potentially make a day of it, and one Spurs-supporting mate brilliantly offered his brother’s pair of season tickets for us both to go free of charge. This was of course on the strict proviso that I sit on my hands, tape up my mouth, and kept my attire strictly neutral coloured, as we would be sat in the Tottenham home end.
The lure of saving £40 was too great, so I practiced my best “Drat, pesky Aston Villa have scored AGAIN” speech, and looked forward to an unexpected free afternoon (barring pre- and post-match refreshments of course).
Unfortunately, my idea to go to the game had inspired my friend’s brother to make the same plan, so the season tickets offer was withdrawn. With total acceptance of the change of plan (well, almost total), I called up Villa’s ticketline to part with my cash for a seat in the away end. Aghast, I heard to normally comforting brummie tones of the booking line lady:
Tickets for our away game against Tottenham Hotspur are now sold out
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo!
After a week on the waiting list, I’ve just received the final call confirming no tickets have come up. I suppose this is the price we pay for being MoneySavers!
Discuss this blog: Free Football – is it a fantasy
