Well. You just have to.

Can't think of a better moment as a Town fan... better than '98 and both Buckley mk1 promotions (I started going regularly around '88/'89).
I guess it was a long time coming.

1998 was amazing and a complete spectacle, but there was no pressure on it whatsoever. Had we not won...Oh well, disappointing. Even the next month against Northampton, had we not won what would have happened? Maybe we wouldn't have held onto John McDermott and possibly a few others but we would still have gone close again the next year. 1997/98 followed one terrible season, which in turn followed on from nearly a decade of sheer joy.

2016 was shit or bust. 3 times the bridesmaid, one of those we even caught the bouquet only for it to fall apart in our hands. Emotionally this season took everything out of me as a Town fan. From pride, hope and belief to numbness at times when it genuinely looked like we were going to blow it again. If you're going to go up, the play-offs is always the best way to do it - the risk is that it's also the worst way to lose it.

The more and more I look back on the last 12 months it just feels absolutely perfect. From injustice and missed penalties against Bristol Rovers to the galvanising of the fans and a united front, even the hammering at Halifax and dogshit performances that we saw throughout the spring, it just made those final eight days in the Conference that much sweeter. At Braintree we came together, we proved our doubters wrong and we delivered. The pressure was really, really on. Hurst would have been sacked, no doubt about it had we failed. It would have been just and fair but that's bloody pressure! Does that excuse his post-match interviews and snipes at the fans? Not really but it maybe puts it into some perspective. In 1998 Alan Buckley didn't have that pressure, nothing like it. The final itself was the worst game of football I've ever watched. I hated every second of it, well apart from the few seconds after Arnold sat their 'keeper down and rolled into the empty net. I'm getting goosebumps just writing about it now!

I've seen highs and lows as a Town fan, I'm sure I'll see more in the future but I will be absolutely amazed if anything will top that feeling 22 days ago. I've no shame in saying I broke down when Arnold grabbed the third. My legs went, my eyes went and I cried. Cried an almighty relief that my club was back from the doldrums. Financially I don't want to consider the implications of another season in the Conference would mean. We couldn't continue as we were and I'm not sure how much longer we could have survived as we were.

I didn't think anything would top Waynes wonderful flick in 1998 but as was pointed out there was no real pressure, plus we went in with an overwhelming sense that we would win because we were better then Bournemouth, and the whole thing was one big party and we didn't all get kicked out because someone had chucked up on the rug. The 1998 play off final was very very tense but as has been said the worst that could happen was that we'd remain in Division 3/League2/League1 This time it was very very different. Every season we spent in the Conference/Blue Square/Skrill/Vanarama/National League was a step closer to death. A bit dramatic maybe but how long would we have gone on before we went part time and whatever follows that. Plus the football world forgets you. Occasionally you get a plum cup tie and the guy on the telly calls you non league and plucky and little and in our case definitely minnows. The mixture of sheer joy and relief when Arnold rolled that ball into the net was the best feeling I've had at a football match. It was over we'd escaped from Purgatory and oblivion and nothing was going to take that away from us, from me, in the last moments of the game.

Missing football? Really? Since our fantastic day at Wembley, there has been the FA Vase and FA Trpohy, countless England friendlies, the Champions League, all the other playoff games, and even fucking Soccer Aid. Whenever I turn on the tv or radio; more football. Or eejits talking about football.  Even Shearer and that Euro 96 programme, where Paul Ince basically admitted he bottled taking a penalty but nobody ever asks him about it. Hmmmm...

You probably meant missing GTFC football? Still, glad for some recovery time. Some signings this week, season ticket sales, fixtures and it will be here before we know it ;-)

 

My first season supporting Town was 72, so that went quite well. I thought it would be like that every season. Then there was the George Kerr years and the Dave Booth nearly years, before we had a taste of how shite things could get with Mike Lyons. When Buckley arrived and turned us into the best footballing side i have ever seen at BP and the subsequent promotions and Wembley visits, i never thought it would ever get better than that but the win at Wembley against FGR was the best ever for me. 

If 98 was like your first blow job, 2016 was your first after 6 years of erectile dysfunction and frustation. Relief and joy all mixed into one, made all the more sweet by being virtually down and out after the first leg against Braintree. I've never seen so many men openly crying, hugging and kissing strangers.