I second your sentiments. It's been an emotional rollercoaster this year with the death of both my mum and dad, and also my brother-in-law, the only Wednesday fan in the family. David was responsible for getting the cheque from the Board for Henry Boot's work on the Kop, as
Robby Blade well knows, and he was also responsible for The Herd Of Sheffield, which is why his Henry Boot elephants both made it to his funeral at the Cathedral in April. He died one week after my mum and we were all devastated, especially my dear big sister who lost her dad, mum and husband in the space of seven weeks.
So why do I mention all this here? Well, obviously as anyone who saw my tribute to him on here the day after he died will know, my dad is the reason I support United. My mum, despite being brought up in Wigton and technically a Carlisle United fan, always paid attention to what was going on at the Lane because she knew the moods of the menfolk in the family were dependant on such things - think how miserable we all were from 1976-1981. When my dad and I would leave to go to the game my mum would always shout after us, "Enjoy the match!" to which dad, without fail, would come back with any variation of, "Eeh, luv, yer don't enjoy it wi' Sheffield United." Except we did, even the crap bits. In his last days I spent hours by his bedside reading the programmes to him as well as excerpts from his Jimmy Hagan book.
And David, a Wednesday fan, the only one in the family, as my brother Julian
EalingBlade said at his funeral, "Marrying into our family, he was certainly behind enemy lines." But a kinder, funnier, more generous bloke you could never or even ever have wished to know or meet. When I was in the Rutty post-match thinking about if I had enough bus fare to get back to my sister's, I would always get the message saying, "David says he'll come to pick you up, then we'll have a curry." Our last conversation was on the evening of the Brentford game at the Lane when Wednesday had won as well. I was up at my sister's after the death of our mum, and as David and I watched the brief highlights of both games on SkySports News, I said how brilliant United were and how lucky Wednesday were, and David said how lucky United were and how brilliant Wednesday were. I said to Deborah after United sealed promotion that one thing I really wished I could experience was David and I winding each other up about it.
So anyone who saw me shedding a tear at Hull, the above does much to explain it. You see, I've always regarded promotion seasons as special years, with 1990, 2006, and 2017 sitting pretty at the top. Hence, I feel somewhat conflicted about 2019. At the end of the Ipswich game, the chap who sits in front of me turned 'round and said, "It's been an emotional year for you, Adrian," and I found myself giving him a big hug and bawling my eyes out. I then proceeded to hug anyone who came near me and cried all over them as well. Then, just as I thought I'd got myself under control, and with the stadium almost empty, as I was making my way up the Kop steps I stepped to one side to let a Blade of similar age to myself who was helping his aged father, resplendent in red and white scarf, down the steps, so off I went again - tears of joy, tears of sadness, tears of pride. Fuck, it was some day.
It has quite possibly been the best season ever, and this is arguably the BEST EVER time to be a Blade, but I don't half miss my dad phoning me up after we've lost and launching straight into, "Were they rubbish?"
Hmmm, I didn't mean to write any of this apart from the first bit agreeing with
JL94x4 so I'll go back to that and say this is the most wonderful community and you've all been bleedin' marvellous and have helped me get through some dark times. UTB, FTP! (Sorry David!)
. One of the best posts i've seen on here & epitomises what football really means & how it resonates through families.