All Roads Lead To Burnley, Well, Just About….

[Special Juan 28,141]

I collected the keys and headed out of the house with my lad yesterday with one thing on my mind and probably every Chelsea fans mind….3 points please. I chose a route that probably suited an old man rather than a middle aged man, country roads, big fuck off tractors and endless amounts of red lights (Not those ones) and sat nab that kept losing signal and going off. Follow the nose was the way, every corner we turned "Dad are we there yet" and this in between a power nap and sat in tail backs because of peak time traffic. The ground was in sight, well to a certain extent it was, the heavens opened and the only saving grace was the car park was in sight, or so said my sat nab that had decided it didn't want to sleep as much as my son. Then, as I think some light relief came in both weather and getting out of the car, whilst being still stuck in traffic came the words "Dad i need a piss, like now" so we pulls over and the only thing at hand was an empty Lucozade bottle so I'm sorry that was last resort. The car park finally arrived and i managed to dump the car safely and soundly with some dodgy looking scottish woman who looked like she had been in the social club across the road most of the afternoon.

The weather paved way for brightish clouds whilst making our way down Harry Potts Way, the sound of horse hooves behind us with a ripple of "Carefree" we were finally amongst it. The odd camera man stopping to ask for pictures and SKY TV all over the ground and with every passing of a Burnley fan you could see they were as excited as we all were, despite us doing this script before, it was like a new dawn for them, and rightly so. Not sure about you but when i visit an away ground I never feel like i am fully part of it until I hear "Come on then, it's only a pound" and seeing my good mate stood there chatting to his pals and selling the CFC UK fanzine to every eager punter that shots a fat nugget £1 his way. I finally got meet my pal after a few incidents he had on the railway up from London, it was good to see him, always is because he brings laughter…... oh and tickets.

Off we went into the concourse after forcing our way through turnstiles, not because I'm fat but because they needed oiling, bit like craving for a pint. First game, new decor, and whilst being to Turf Moor before I knew what I was facing but was massively surprised, the concourse was fine and the queues not bad considering. With beer in one hand, magazine in another and my lad sat chomping on a Mars Bar it was all set, we found ourselves sat staring up at a large screen waiting for the team news. It eventually came through and to see Tibo Courtois named as a starter I wasn't surprised as others, for me the big man is the future and this for me isn't even a risk, he's that good. After a good few swigs of lager I was being plagued to go to our seats like they were going to run away from us. we went to to be greeted by a lush playing surface and a four man gathering of Courtois, Cech, Scwarzer and duly pulling the strings was Cristophe Lollichon dragging them through their paces with no quarter given. If I hadn't seen the team news then this would of confirmed that Tibo was starting as he was the main man between the sticks and being really tested.

After about ten minutes the rest of the team entered the field to absolute rapturous applause from the away section. In between it all was rather smartly dressed special one, to which it rang out around the old stand supporting the chelsea mob "Jose Mourinhooooo" to which he gave a small wave and then pointed to the team as if to say "Not me, them" Then the usual songs began for each players beginning with John Terry right through to Willian and the 'He hates Tottenham' song. The lads were put through their paces by Stevie Holland and had a game of bibs onto tops were every single player showed absolute precision in both control and ball retention in a tight area. Then they left the field to another immense ovation from the travelling support. the tunnel was pulled forward and like the theatre curtain you know it's about time to roll, and after a rather quick shower of rain it was…..oh and a piss stop.

So up to the wooden seats at the back of the stand, yes wooden seats, proper old skool this was, I loved it. The atmosphere was bordering on immense and the Burnley fans were rocking by this point. We were kicking away from our away support in the first half and every man and his dog was stood up, leaving the lad to stand on a wooden seat and sing "Steve Gerrard, Gerrard…….." You know the rest ha ha!! I said minutes previous to them scoring I felt the way we had started that we some what wanted burnley to take a hold of the game, and wasn't surprised when they scored but bloody hell the noise when they did…..The place went absolute nuts. then it was all Burnley fans in full mocking mode…..yeah for a few minutes until uncle Diego popped up and smashed home the equaliser and silence them enough for us to seat bouncing in the stands. Just as we stopped and we were dancing again. Now this is the next point, I didn't realise how good this goal was until I heard a bloke mention it behind me and also when I got home and seen it on SKY. That already will be a goal of the season contender, no doubt, that touch from Cesc is something you can't teach in vision and control, your born with that. When the third came, and to reiterate my point on how far away we were I thought it was big Matic who scored ha ha, but then it dawned that Matic whilst being tall isn't a big monster in body size so it had to be big Brana, and rightly so, he had a superb pre season did the big lad.

I won't go into the rest because it was not so much a damp squib but it was them improving and us sort of going through the motions as it was already job done. in the stands we stood arms aloft and and this chant reverberated around a tinned old stand……."Were the only team in London to win the European Cup" it was party time in the stands and the Burnley fans could only look on with hands on faces whilst resting up on their knees thinking what could of been. I left early as my boy was becoming tired after singing his heart out, so we jumped into the car to beat the rush and set off knowing fine well what we had heard and witnessed from us today was nothing short of top class from minute 14 to the last. As getting into the car there was little ripples of songs being heard from the ground that were just about hearable from the back streets of the ground and it was a great way to end a great day, safe in the knowledge that PL football was back and three points were safely dispatched in the bag for the Chels and we were quite rightly back were we belong…….at the top!!

After three cans of lager at home and time to reflect whilst watching it back on SKY plus it was up the stairs to rest a weary body and have a well earned sleep until the next chapter.

CAREFREE!!!!!

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[Jusek 2,031]

Good read! Our away support was immense, was great to hear them singing throughout the match.

[CHOULO19 24,332]

Brilliant. Genuinely deeply enjoyed reading that. Thanks.