May 10 2004

Big Screen

Apologies to Star Trekkies for mangling an immortal catchphrase. But Jamesey was beaming all the way back home after Sunday's Coventry game

The beamback beckoned and I went for my second dose (the first was Brighton away, October 02) and it was another excruciating experience for a Palace supporter.

If only our team had shown as much passion in the first half at Highfield Road as those who were there and those like me who were yelling at a giant TV screen in SE25, it could have been a less stressful afternoon.

But Palace, being what we are, did it the hard way, and even then, with the help of other results.

Well, whatever the arguments, we are in the play-offs against Sunderland and let us only hope that we play like we did in the final third of the Coventry game for the rest of the season.

While I was waiting for the kick-off I opened the sports section of the Sunday Telegraph to see a top-of-the-page feature on Iain Dowie. We are certainly popular in the national press all of a sudden.

Having always thought that Dowie's big mantra was Fitness, Fitness, Fitness, I was surprised to read of his emphasis on "mind engineering." Some of the slogans and phrases he quoted had, for me, depressing echoes of laughable management clichés in my day as an employee in a massive corporate block.

But if it works with footballers, Carry on Dowie!

After a happy outcome, thanks to other results, I decided to treat myself to a rare alcoholic beverage on the way home.

The Falcon in Clapham Junction was showing the Fulham/Arsenal game on its big screen and I was shocked that when the Gooners scored, the pub erupted into screams of joy in what was once a Fulham stronghold.

In olden days the north London triumphalists would have been quietly taken out and drowned in the Thames under Battersea Bridge. Only joking, honest.

Times have, of course, changed and local loyalties have gone by the board... but it is a shame in my view.

Finally having been provided with a special phone number to order my play-off tickets, I thought well done, Palace commercial dept. But, of course, after several attempts the line greets you warmly, tells you are in a queue - and then cuts you off...

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