No football = more cash

I suppose one of the benefits of not watching football, particularly Premier league football, is the fact that there seems to be a bit spare cash sloshing around these days. ( Well that and not having to subsidise offspring through higher education or shell out pocket money ). Never a one to let money wear a hole in my pocket it tends to burn a hole in my pocket and it just has to go. To that end this past year has seen the odd weekend away, a holiday in Canada and just feeling the need to buy what I want when I need it.

No football, particularly Sunderland AFC, means no more depressions and making my self miserable at the cost of hundreds of pounds a year. Breaking the habit, and that's what it is, make no mistake, was difficult with a sense of overriding guilt at not attending, but I worked through it and thought "Fuck it, I have no obligation to anyone but myself". I'll still have my mates, they'll still speak to me, they know where I'm coming from and one day, unless things change radically for the better, they too might find time and money to spend on themselves and indulge themselves a little more.

To that end, yesterday, money burning a hole in my pocket I popped out and purchased a DVD Recorder with integral VCR intent on burning a shit load of videos to DVD. Got some of the favourites out of the way, "Private Ryan", "Apollo 13", "Shawshank Redemption" and then started to sift through some of the others tucked away in the loft. Aha, the BBC version of the 1973 Cup Final saw itself on DVD by the day was out, " Goal" the 1966 documentary film of the World Cup and the full match coverage of the 1966 World Cup Final in glorious black and white.

Then I came up on it, Premier Passions, ( Its a shit copy) so I sat a watched it through and didn't copy it to DVD ( anyone got a good copy?). It was then that I realised that I'd made the right decision in staying away. Listening to Bob Murray back in 1996/97 is no different to listening to him today and the intervening years in between. " This club deserves Premier Football" "This club will attain Premier status and will not be relegated again" " I'm a fan too"

The highpoint of it all is our very own Billy giving Bob stick about the failures of the season and needing something to hang onto, Bob trying his hardest to sound like he gives a fuck and he is as gutted as everyone else, then Gary Stevens berating him and telling him ( in the nicest possible way) just how it feels for the fans and the amounts of money they spend following SAFC and how it makes us all miserable and on and on.

Nothings changed lads, nothing will change until there is a new direction at the top, even McCarthy is starting to sound like Reid.

So for the foreseeable future I'll keep my money in my pocket until I start to feel the heat from it and then I'll get shot before it burns me. After all, in the words of a wise old Sunderland Supporter who once lived near me.

" There's no pockets in shrouds"