Well yesterday was certainly and interesting day for me. Let me explain...
Things started quietly enough. I had booked the day off work as I was travelling to Leeds for the FA Cup game in the afternoon so I spent the morning in the gym. Nothing to unusual about that you might say but it was while there that things began to get a bit weird.
I received a message from a mate of mine (hello Tone!) asking me if I had had a row with former Premier League referee Jeff Winter at Hartlepool on Saturday. I found this rather strange as I could not recall even seeing him at the game but it appeared he had made some derogatory comments on the Internet about the Dagenham press guy who had been at Hartlepool with his son. Well as I was the only press guy from Dagenham at the game, and as I had my son with me, I assumed it must have been me.
Once home I investigated further and suddenly it all became clear. In his report, Winter had made a comment about someone from the visitors press party (me!) 'barging past' him while he was broadcasting. He said something along the lines of how he considered thumping this person but thought better of it as he 'had his son with him.'
Wow! Of course there are two sides to every story and what actually happened was Winter, who I did not recognise at the time and assumed was just another media monkey, was blocking the gangway to my seat. I asked him politely several times to let me and my son past but he just ignored me. As the game was about to start and I needed to set up my laptop etc I had no option other then to try and squeeze past him, which I did. It is possible that my laptop bag may have knocked into him accidentally but I had given him plenty of chance to move and I had no other way of getting past.
Half time brought a repeat of the problem as me and Emerson needed to use the toilet. Again he was reluctant to move so we had to squeeze past as best we could. The press box at Hartlepool is very small but they have a facility to make tea and coffee so after our toilet stop we returned and made ourselves a cup of tea. Again we had to squeeze past Mr. Winter (I still did not know it was him) and there was so little room Emerson actually spilt his tea trying to get past. Once sat down Emerson decided he needed more milk so I got up to get it and Mr. Winter, rather rudely, said 'I'll get it for you,' before basically throwing two small cartons of milk at me! He always was a nice fella...
To be honest I didn't think much about it at the time and after the game he just disappeared and I carried on with my interviews etc. It was only when I read his report that I realised what an impression I had made on him...
So, with my first brush with fame out the way I travelled to Leeds for the FA Cup replay. The trip was hassle-free until we reached the inner-city ring-road where the traffic basically ground to a halt and an estimated arrival time of 18.30 soon became 19.30, and I still had the problem of finding somewhere to park. I eventually found an industrial estate which appeared to be no more then 5 minutes walk from the ground, a good job too as it was now less then twenty minutes to kick off, but the walk turned out to be nearer fifteen and by the time I entered the stadium the teams were out and ready to kick off.
To my surprise I discovered that my seat was in the very front row. This was a surprise as it said Row D on the ticket but they had left the first three rows empty for some reason so I found myself right at the front with a TV camera directly in front of me. This could be fun...
Five minutes in and a flowing Arsenal move saw Samir Nasri glide into the area and coolly finish past Schmichael to put as 1-0 up and the camera in front of me immediately turned to the celebrating Arsenal fans. I did not think too much about it until a few seconds later when the guy standing next to me received a text message from a mate telling him he had just seen him on TV! The next thing I know my phone is going mental with text messages and even screen-shots (thanks Dave and Lloyd!) informing me I too had been on the tele!
The game itself was fast paced an exciting and we went 2-0 up ten minutes before the break with a great strike from Bakary Sagna and again the camera turned to the crowd, again I was on TV and again the text messages came pouring in! Now I understand that TV companies will do anything they can to boost ratings but showing my ugly mug so often is hardly going to help now is it??
Then, from out of nowhere Leeds, who had not been in the game until then, suddenly pulled a goal back with a 35 yard wonder strike from Arsenal fan Bradley Johnson that flew into the top corner right in front of us and we now had a game on our hands.
The second half was as exciting as the first but with the score at only 2-1 we could not relax as Leeds sensed a way back in. However the introduction of substitutes Robin van Persie and Cesc Fabregas finally turned the game in our favour and it was the Dutchman who completed the scoring with a wonderful header to a superb Nicklas Bendtner cross, again right in front of us and again I was on the tele. So 3-1, game over and Huddersfield at home now awaits in the 4th round.
My weird and wonderful day then came to a close when our goalkeeper, Wojciech Szczesny, came over the thank the fans for their support and threw his gloves into the crowd right in front of me. They appeared to be out of my reach but at the last moment I was able to reach out and grab them with a catch any of the England Ashes winning fielders would have been proud of. A nice souvenir for Emerson, who unfortunately could not be at the game due to him having school in the morning.
Just a quick word about the Leeds fans. They were magnificent throughout, even though their team were losing for most of the match, and they even displayed some humour with chants of 'Barca, Barca' as Fabregas was warming up in front of them. Then, as I left the ground unsure of where I had parked the car, a local comedian pointed down the road and said 'London is that way pal!' I didn't have the heart to tell him I was actually travelling north...
So, an Internet row with a former Premier League referee, at least two TV appearances and a pair of gloves worn by the Arsenal keeper all in one day. I wonder what today will bring??
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