I read somewhere
the other day that I was a ‘prolific blogger.’ Am I? I don’t think so. One a
day most days, like shaving, very occasionally two, but I try to ensure it
takes up no more than twenty minutes to half an hour. 

If I was a proper blogger,
I’d have been straight on with another one after the fabulous time I had MCing
part of the celebrations of Burnley’s promotion to the Premiership.

If I was a proper vlogger, I’d have surrounded myself with camcorders and got
stuff recorded to put up here pronto. I don’t even own a camera, or a
camcorder. Instead we’ll be begging and borrowing footage from wherever we can
find it, so that when it eventually goes up, you’ll be thinking ‘God, is he
still going on about that bloody football match?’

In fact some of you have
probably been saying that already, and may even have twigged that the ‘am I a
proper, am I a prolific blogger?’ stuff at the top is just a slowburn excuse to
go on about the bloody football team again.

But think about it. It is my website. It
is my blog. And yes, I feel some vague responsibility and-or need to say
something about politics most days, (like how a Tory government will probably
legislate to stop goals being scored, or Georgie Thompson being on Sky Sports
News,) but when what happened on Monday happens, it is hard just to move on and
say oh well, let’s stop talking and 
thinking about that.

I mean how many football fans get the chance to do with I did yesterday? Stand
on the balcony of the town hall, sing football songs very loudly through a huge
PA system to get the crowd going, commentate to the crowd as the players emerge
around the corner in their open-top bus, welcome them to the balcony in small
groups, and interview half the team, the chairman and the manager, with huge
cheers greeting their every utterance?

Frankly, I think it would be a bit odd if I didn’t say something about it.

So what to say? Well first, I am sometimes critical of Burnley fans for not
having enough songs, and not adapting songs around current events. So their
chant as I was being interviewed on the BBC before the bus arrived – ‘you’re
only here on expenses’ – was, albeit untrue, witty and I hope a sign of wit to
come when the big boys roll into town.

But the most important thing about yesterday was the
hope and confidence that you felt around the town. It was not just about
football. But it was football that had created it.

Among the dozens and dozens of messages I got yesterday, one that made me
laugh out from West Brom fan Adrian Chiles. ‘Welcome to hell. Enjoy the
feeling. It won’t last.’

And of course it won’t. Life is not about euphoria even if we have occasional
passing moments of it. Life, if you ask me, is about setting objectives and
working hard to try to meet them. It is about knowing what you’re good at and
trying to do it to the best of your ability. It is about being part of a
broader community.

It’s what Burnley FC have done rather well this year.

Thanks too to Danny Finkelstein of the Times for sending me stats which say we
have a better statistical chance of staying up, based on form, than the pundits
might suggest. I’ll ignore what he said about Labour’s electoral position. What
does he know? (Other than about football, obviously)

Anyway, enough already. I suppose to sum it up, I would
say match day was a great day, open top bus day was a great day, and now the
players and coaches go on holiday, then the hard work of preparation for next
season begins in earnest. 

For now, I’m off to Rome to keep an eye on one of our Premiership opponents
next season.

Oh my God, you say, now he’s going on about that other bloody football team
run by his Scottish mate who never talks to the BBC. I might. I already have,
as it happens, with a series of articles for La Repubblica, one about Fergie,
one about the songs United fans sing, a third about how I delayed my departure
to the Big Game to celebrate the outcome of the earlier Big Game.

And if I sound like a big kid, well tough. Some days I am, and make no apology
for it.