Its so close I can literally taste it, the drought which started after the champions league final is edging towards its end, and soon we will all be dancing in a wonderful football deluge!
Don't get me wrong, there has been the odd game on every now and then to keep me going through the bleak summer months, the UEFA U21 European Championships and the U17 World Cup (unfortunately I can't afford to invest in ESPN), but it has started to get a bit desperate recently...in fact to give you an idea of just how bad, I am writing this whilst watching the football behemoths Dunfermeline play St.Mirren in the SPL, its not what you'd call a classic, but its better than the other option (Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model...dodged a bullet there I'm sure you'll agree).
Now that the pre-season friendly fixtures are in full flow however, I can now begin to think about that most wonderful of days when the season officially kicks off. I've spent many an hour studying the fixture list, researching potential away trips, checking any clashes with international fixtures and all those other little displacement activities that take my mind off the lack of football, but now I'm starting to get restless, my Saturday afternoons aren't dominated by Jeff and the boys or by surreptitious looks on the phone to get the latest scores, my Sunday evenings aren't just counting down to the softest of landings into a new working week that MOTD 2 provides. I need my fix. Pre-season fixtures never really satisfy me either, and to be honest Mario Balotelli's antics in the USA kind of sum up how I feel about them.
The worst part of it is that I genuinely see my friends less when there isn't any football on. Without Super Sunday meetings and the weekly Champions League fixtures to be used as excuses to head to the pub...I mean, what are we supposed to talk about, there is no point talking about transfers since the media coverage of the transfer window takes all the fun out of it...there's no games to discuss...no controversial incidents...what if I start talking to them and find out I don't actually like them!?
Research has shown that the depression rate in me aged 18-40 in the UK goes up substantially during the months of June and July in years when there is no major football tournament taking place. The fact that it is normal during the even numbered years when the World Cup or Euros surely shows football (or lack of it) to be the key factor.
Soon though, I have to keep reminding myself, soon I'll be watching Gary, Alan and Alan guide me through all of the key moments of the premier league, soon I'll be fast forwarding through the ridiculous ramblings of Steve Claridge to get to the actual football, soon I'll be cheering on Ruud Gullit as he tears yet another strip off Souness as Butch Wilkins reminds me to stay on my feet and soon I'll be able to hear Redknapp junior and senior tell be about top top players again.
So lets all rally round each other as we struggle through the last weeks of the drought and prepare for the monsoon thats coming in August.
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