| The Warky Celebration Report: Promotion (H) 18:58 - May 1 with 1007 views | Warkystache |
They played "Rockin' All Over The World" and "We are the Champions". I wanted Praise You by Fatboy Slim. We've come a long, long way together, through the hard times and the good.
I didn't invade the pitch. I stood and watched as others did. It felt cathartic enough that we were back in a league we made our own for god knows how long, under Jewell and McCarthy and, briefly, Hurst. It seems funny that this was the main chant the scum had against us when they appeared, bi-annually from their latest failure in the Prem. 15 years in the Championship, you're still sh*t. Only it was the truth. We were still sh*t. Evans saw to that.
I didn't shed a tear at the final whistle, but I felt glad it was over. All that worry, all that fretting that we'd suddenly lose one and Wednesday would creep back in, like Nosferatu in a castle bedchamber, all shadows and candle-flicker.
My fellow season-ticket holders in SBRL didn't really know how to celebrate. It's hard when you've been unused to being happy at Portman Road. True, we've battered teams and looked better and better as the season progressed. I thought I'd feel the same as I did when I was 18 in '92 and then 26 in 2000. The Bolton semi and the crudities of their play, of their manager Fat Sam and his oafish charges. Truth is, I've never celebrated promotion at Portman Road, and this one was early, by the 29th minute and 5-0 up against a team who seemed more akin to Ipswich Wanderers and the Thurlow Nunn than the professional game.
Then it was the mish-mash of a celebration. I miss Rob Chandler. He of the authoritative tone and the odd ad-lib. Stephen Foster was never my favourite BBC Suffolk presenter and I did wonder if Mark Matthews might have been a better choice? This was a confusion of players, wives, sundry others and kids. It may as well have been a carnival. The wives could've done a majorette routine with batons.
Still, I sang myself hoarse and cavorted and bouncey- bounced with the rest. I hugged and grinned and fist-bumped and smiled at Woolfy and Harry doing their dance in front of the SBR. It was the best day in 20-odd years, but it wasn't the best of my life as a Town fan, not even close. Here's the crux; 1992 was brilliant. 2000 at Wembley was phenomenal. Them are the memories. This was the new school aceing it. Like Red in that film The Shawshank Redemption, the colours weren't as bright and the songs weren't as heartfelt. This felt like we'd escaped from a punishment we never deserved. It was the Andy Dufresne moment, through a brick wall and up a sewer to stand shirtless in the rain.
I left before they announced 'Player of the Season' because it was burning out, the fun and the high-jinks and the newness of it all. It was all new, at least for a few years when all we had to compare it to was a solitary loss at Carrow Road and a solidarity that shattered as we veered dangerously into uncharted and unwanted waters. Even being ten points clear of the pack in our first season in this dirge of a league was only brief respite. We soon reverted to norm.
Thank you's should be extended to Mark Ashton (look away now, Bristol City fans, with your poor memories of our CEO and your subsequent prejudices. To all at Gamechanger. To the coaching staff, to Kieran, to the players, to everyone who got us back and gave us hope again.
The true sinking-in period of any promotion only comes in the summer. The new fixture list, the excitement of who we've got first and when we play the scum and beat them, hopefully, and transcend them for the first time in decades. Who we sign. Who we release. What we might do. All of these are pertinent and interesting discussions when the sun shines and the cricket season flows with the Pimms and the grass dies. We've got a few weeks until this and a final away game at Fleetwood to enjoy, possibly another celebration if Port Vale can beat or draw with Plymouth.
There may be summer reports to come. I'm not sure yet. Depends on the new Halstead Two and the updates of my life. To be honest, even if we win the league after all this, I'll still be more than happy with the lifting of the club away from the doldrums of League One. This is an exciting time to be a fan. Money, resources, a good team who may be more than capable of repeating whatever trick we've learned since January. Great Manager. Great off-field continuity and control and hope-giving. That's all any of us ever really wanted. To feel hope. The sentence is finished. We're back.
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| The Warky Celebration Report: Promotion (H) on 19:44 - May 1 with 855 views | Pendejo |
I don't recall "Champions" can recall "Don't stop me now"
I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball
Apologies if they did, just can't recall it. And I was sober |  |
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| The Warky Celebration Report: Promotion (H) on 12:23 - May 2 with 589 views | hoppy |
| The Warky Celebration Report: Promotion (H) on 19:44 - May 1 by Pendejo |
I don't recall "Champions" can recall "Don't stop me now"
I'm having such a good time I'm having a ball
Apologies if they did, just can't recall it. And I was sober |
You are, indeed correct. It was "Don't stop me now" that was played, as I had also thought it strange they were playing "Champions" before I realised* my error, and that it was "Don't stop me now".
* was corrected by KJ. |  |
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