Aston Villa Boxing Day
So Boxing Day has arrived and as I mentioned in my last blog ,there is no transit . Paul Harris has offered to pick us up and we will stay the night in Kidderminster as to not have anyone driving after a long day out . We have organized to leave my hockey bags and Kathleen’s big luggage at the Staybridge Suites in Birmingham as we will be returning . Everything is sorted and we meet Paul over on Temple Row to get over to Kidderminster for breakfast and beers … we had two breakfasts on this day as we couldn’t resist having a 7am feed downstairs at the hotel .
We met the rest of the Kidderminster Lions at the Eagle and Spur in Cookley and had a few bevs with our second breakfast which was roughly around 11am which isn’t too bad . Definitely need to get food in for a day on the piss supporting Villa . All the usual suspects came out and even Pecker made an appearance but I still wish he would have joined us . Pete Aston and Kieran kept things interesting all day long and we met some old friends and made some new ones also . Fantastic turnout for Kiddy with the bus filled with 49 members going to Manchester to watch the worlds most overrated team that I love to call ManUre .
When the bus arrived we already had a few beers in us and I didn’t plan to drink on the bus but my mates had other plans and I had a few but I’m going nowhere near that toilet 😝 I’ve been on these away days before and usually the bog is a disaster by the time we leave . That’s why in honestly didn’t plan to drink on the bus and thankfully I held off on visiting the bog . We made a pit stop in Altrincham at this pub called George & Dragon and everyone was really happy we were the first bus in and actually got our beer orders in early . That pub got rammed pretty quickly and we had around 3 hours to kill there . And yes the beer was flowing and yes I did have a slash in the bog at the pub finally ahhh !
Thankfully we had a table with a bathroom close by that wasn’t the main one so most people didn’t know about it which meant no lineups . Everyone is really excited about the way Aston Villa have been doing this season . It’s really unreal . A few locals were in the pub too cheering for us as they were Citeh supporters so they can’t stand those reds .
After three hours of drinking in the pub we were all lubed up and ready to go sing our hearts out . The ride to the ground wasn’t very far and we got there in no time and the excitement level was amped up pretty high . I’m jacked to visit Old Trafford but didn’t have any time to wander around . Just get into the stadium , get one last beer with a balti pie and some crisps and off to my seat . In my row were some other Toronto Lions that I’ve never seen in my life but to be fair I haven’t been to any meetups in a while since my priority is hockey on weekends rather then drinking downtown . Just the way it is .
The game started off really well for Villa going up 2-0 by the half . We were singing all game and the home crowd was like a library . I guess they don’t sing because they are all tourists or something ? Kathleen grabbed me a beer at half and I spoke with a few random supporters and the feeling was mutual that we didn’t feel overly confident, like we’ve seen this all before and didn’t want to get our hopes up .
By the time I started making my way to my seat ManUre had already scored ??? Well no they didn’t thanks to VAR but this was just a warning shot and unfortunately there were more to come as Villa looked tired and lost the second half . It’s a tale of two halves …. And this is starting to bring back feelings of the loss that Canada suffered vs. Jamaica . Next thing you know we were down 3-2 and wouldn’t you know it , those tourist supporters finally learned how to sing . Sorry but not sorry , ManUre supporters are lame as fuck . Honestly your support is garbage at best …. And we let them know when we sang “you only sing when you’re winning” it’s really amazing how they say there quietly all game then had the nerve to turn to us and make fun as much as possible like a bunch of wankers .
I’m not gonna cry over it but that game was a gut punch and the bus ride back to Kidderminster was quiet aside from the Kiddy youth singing constantly on the ride home . They were having fun but I needed a nap to sort myself . When we got to our stop Kierans wife picked us up and dropped us off at the Premier Inn and we checked in at around 1:30 am and called it a night .
My luck was not great here watching Villa draw twice and losing a game we had in the palm of our hands but this is pretty much the way I have always known and experienced this . The day is always class until the game starts but unfortunately it was great until the second half then it was dreary …. Oh well . We go again as they say . UTV !