[Albion] "Feel free to gloat". No thanks mate.

[SE9]

I don't post here, avid reader for more years than I can remember, but never felt obliged to post before.

Last night I got a message from a mate who supports Liverpool, obviously surprised I hadn't been rubbing salt in his wounds. "Feel free to gloat" was his message. But for once, I didn't feel like gloating. Didn't feel like it was yet another David vs Goliath moment. When people had asked me on Friday who I thought would win, I said us, and it didn't feel like such a big deal. Like most of us here, there has been many years of famine than feast, so I've still got that supporter of a small club mentality. Having spent the best part of 22 years up in Charlton / Millwall / West Ham territory it's taking a while to get used to me being the supporter of the big club.

The result yesterday is especially poignant - watched my old man being given the last rites at lunchtime, and am now just waiting for that inevitable call that things really are over. He gave me my love of the Albion, and utter disdain for Pompey and Palace (in that order, for him).

Maybe we are a Stoke - getting a few years at the top table and then will trundle back to averageness, maybe we will be another West Brom / Fulham and bounce around between the top two. or maybe, just maybe we are a big club and I am only just realising this.

RIP Dad and thankyou RDZ.

 

[Mancgull]

My Dad is also in the latter stages of his life and has dementia so can’t take in my explanation that we are now a seriously good team. He is 89 and supported the Albion since he was a kid.
I feel the same way as you in terms of ‘gloating’. I thought we’d get a win or possibly draw yesterday. I live in Manchester now and a lot of United fans who I call mates!! were saying that they thought we would win, before the game.
I want to enjoy the moment, but at the same time, it’s just another win.

 

[Saladpack Seagull]

Sorry for what you guys are going through ATM. Your posts reminded me how much we owe our parents when it comes to football. You made me think of my late Mum, who every Saturday copied down the results of every division from the telly for me while I was at a match! In her later years she was an avid Radio Sussex listener and followed the Albion that way. It's only when you're older that you realise just how much your parents did for you and how they shaped you not just as a football fan but as a human being. RIP Mum and all those special Albion-supporting parents who changed our lives for the better.

 

[rool]

Sorry to hear about your Dad.
I cared for my Dad through his cancer, now just over 5 years ago, and it wasn't until the priest came to my house to give him the last rites that it hit me and I broke down.
Still not really over it all these years later.

 

[Weststander]

Sorry to hear about your much-loved Dad. All the best.