NeilH1884

Pray for Thompson's liver.
 

Two things I noticed. When the team were having a photo taken with their kids, Wildsmith was holding up Thompson like a kid. And Robert Lindsay doing his Citizen Smith salute in the director's box.

Loved it. Just stood there letting the emotions run over me whilst the pitch invasion happened and then after I’d taken it all in we went down on to get a photo with me mum and dad on the pitch. We stayed on there for the bounce and celebrations and then left. 
 
 
One little issue - if anyone knows the 2/3 fans that went to the Carlisle fans giving it the big one (not those that were applauding them) just clip them round the tabs. Idiots. Just won promotion and they want to head over to the away fans giving it w anchor signs. 

Thought the club handled it well.  Obviously there are mixed opinions about pitch invasions - personally I'm all for them - it's a chance for fans to really feel part of the club not just customers.   It was good to see all the younger fans ready to run on.  Everyone seemed to enjoy it - even the stewards - if people don't want to run on surely the spectacle beats  a lap of honour?

Just got back home.
Two pints before the game at DW sport place good atmosphere good beer choice for the location no real ale.
Record fair and Bustler market after the game good atmosphere poor craft beer choice given the location no real ale.
Neptune good atmosphere real ale mediocre.
Standing order good atmosphere good beer real ale.
Dolphin good atmosphere good beer real ale.
Shakespear good atmosphere good beer craft beer but no real ale.
Bess good atmosphere nearly run out of beer, so never had a drink.

Home bad atmosphere wife already gone to bed expect no conversation for several hours in the morning then a lecture about stopping out for so long. 
No beer for several days will have to treat her for a meal before I am allowed any beer again. 😂

I’ve been thinking a lot about that this week.  If you think about the last 4 years since COVID started it’s been an emotional rollercoaster as a Rams fan.  We seemed to lurch from one disaster to another - FFP charges, fake sheiks, tik-tok takeover failure, transfer embargo’s, forced to play kids in the cup, staying up on the last day, administration, points deductions, dodgy Yanks, relegation, 5 players, 1 week from disappearing and probably more.
It feels like this is end of the first chapter of the David Clowes era.

I’d question if any Derby fan is actually human if they didn’t get emotional at least once yesterday. 
We nearly lost it all. Everyone has their ritual, whether it’s going with lifelong friends and getting on the beers, travelling from afar to visit home, seeing family they may otherwise rarely see… would be all gone  
There were kids that pitch who were probably too young to remember the Villa play off loss, let alone the QPR one, they wouldn’t have seen a single moment of success watching us. I’m 33 and don’t remember promotion in the 90s, all I have is 07. Suppose we could support Man City? Nah, never, that’s not football. That’s not belonging. That’s not family.  
There’s a lot of pain in the recent past, and yesterday was a stark reminder of what may never have been again. 

Not sure if I am alone in this today but I feel an overwhelming sense of closure after yesterday’s achievement. What a relief to be back in the Championship. But it’s more than that.
It feels like all the hurt over the last couple of years: the administration, the points deductions, the financial turmoil, the humiliation, the relegation; it feels like we can finally turn the page on that sordid chapter of our history. Like we can move on. 
I’m not sure why I’m sharing this, but it feels even more personal for me than that, too. In the summer of our relegation, I lost my grandmother to cancer. She was the major connection to Derby for me. My whole ritual of going to the matches involved staying with her for the weekend. For some reason Derby County, the city of Derby, the supporters bus that would pick my Grandad and I up from outside The Gate in Swanwick, the cone of chips before the game, all just seemed to have disappeared.
I know it sounds strange but I feel like I lost my connection to the club in so many ways that summer. 
Yesterday, watching everyone celebrating and the tears and David Clowes and Ed Dawe’s’ tears, just felt like closure. The end of the trauma and the start of something new. It felt like moving on.
Thank you, Mr Clowes, for all of that 🐏

Someone else enjoyed the day 👌

West Stand view. You can see Sibs breaking through the stewards to be swallowed into the crowd! 😄