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BLIND, STUPID AND DESPERATE
 
Editorials:
The moral dilemma
By Andy Barnard
 
Suppose (click, cluck, click, goes the chicken counter) that we get to (cluck) the play-offs final. Forget Grimsby (click) and (cluck) the semis, there's (click) no way I can take the time (cluck) off work. However tickets for Wembley will (click) obviously be limited. So (cluck) the question is: am I worthy of a ticket for (click) Wembley?

THE CASE FOR
Lived in Leavesden between ages five and ten. Recall at age eight (1976) being scoffed at by Liverpool "supporters" for being a Watford "supporter". Six months later all Liverpool "supporters" had converted to Watford. Saw my first match against Chelsea - it was before it looked likely we'd go up. We won 3-1 with a good performance from the seventeen-year-old John Barnes. I spent all my scant pocket money watching Watford that season - I went to Orient(a) 3-0 (I think), Bolton(h) 3-0, Sheffield W(h) 4-0. My winning run continued the following season with Everton(h) 2-0, Arsenal(a) 4-2, and Arsenal(h) 2-1. I kept up a sporadic interest the following seasons - I recall the home defeat against Wimbledon the year they were promoted, as well as the home defeat of Wimbledon the following year which I think was Bassett's first home game. Certainly it was one of his few wins.... Can't remember any matches the next season, except listening to very crackly commentary of the playoffs (Three Counties Radio or its predecessor in South London). Continued to go to matches albeit on a sporadic basis - I vividly remember a home defeat by bottom-placed Hull during the Perryman era (which, although we somehow escaped relegation that season, was a lower low than anything since). A salary to spend, and later WML and BSaD, rejuvenated my interest in the Golden Boys - run an Alta Vista search on Andrew Barnard or Andy Barnard for some details. A home match from Tbilisi is a 6,000 mile (or something) round trip and costs 400 quid - that's more than most regulars clock up and spend in a season. Despite that I've seen four matches this season: Cambridge away twice, Ipsh!t and Stockport away.

THE CASE AGAINST
Lived in Watford for five years but never saw a match then. Have never been to more than a dozen matches a season. Hardly bothered going during the (old) Div One spell as I assumed we'd be there forever. Thought Dave Bassett would be a good successor to GT. Supported Roeder almost up until the death, though to be fair not quite as long as ig did (Yeah, thanks - Ed). Never, as far as I remember, saw Nogan, Beadle, Charlery or Butler in Watford colours (though I have seen a couple of them score against us since). Have never jumped in the ponds. Suggested that GT should not come back for fear of spoiling memories of his first stint at the Vic. My only replica shirt is the 1997-98 home one. In 1997 I accepted a job in Tbilisi despite knowing how far it is from the Vic. In April 1997 I thought Kenny Jackett should be kept on as manager after the 1996-97 season, though I didn't know that GT had already taken over then. In September 1998 I tipped us for relegation on the basis of watching those two defeats to Cambridge.

So - for or against me deserving a (click) ticket at (cluck) Wembley? Answers on a postcard to:

Andrew Barnard,
c/o 26 Gabriel Episkopos Street,
Avlabari,
Tbilisi,
Georgia,
Europe (member of the Council thereof),
Between Turkey and Russia,
Not the American Georgia

By the way, most of the postcards will take weeks if not months to arrive. But, just supposing (click) the vote goes my way, how the f*?k do I get a ticket?