Written by fritter
Saturday mornings have always been special when there’s a home game. I have never tired of it. The sense of anticipation is always there. Sometimes greater than others. Other days are good, but Saturdays are special. This Saturday is different. I’m looking forward to the game and the occasion.
Back along I would have written something for OOC or NT8502. These days I write less often. The message board is now part of our lives and I read it every day. I love it and appreciate all that DJ does. A balance of the serious and measured and the short and flighty. I loved reading the fanzines back along, the articles that people took time over. Thought out and carefully selected words. Intentional writing.
There are those that hold the view that today is all about AFC Bournemouth and that Eddie is in the past. That to focus on Eddie is to be disloyal to the team and to the current manager, that it will somehow detract. For me today is a chance to show appreciation to a man who changed everything. Who made the phrase ‘together anything is possible’ a truism rather than an aspiration.
We all know how that final season ended. Covid. Villa ghost goal. That lonely, heartbreaking image of Eddie on the pitch at Goodison Park. No crowds, we could only watch from a distance on a screen. Lonely and in isolation ourselves. Desperate to be there and to shout and sing and roar them to victory. What an awful way for a season to play out. Whatever the true circumstances of his leaving were, we were all united in seeing that he was worn out.
Yesterday I watched Eddie’s press conference. How I’ve missed that. The courtesy, humour, clarity and humanity. And I think that’s it, the person and leader as well as the manager (not forgetting 270 appearances as a player).
I suspect everyone has a story of meeting Eddie. In my experience he always paid attention, he listened. I have photos of my children with a very young Eddie back in junior cherry days. I have friends who taught Eddie at school. I know he would sometimes phone people up on their birthdays. He called my Uncle on one of his significant birthdays to wish him a Happy Birthday, He said how valuable it was to have fans who were so loyal, how important that was. I know that he visited schools and other places while manager with no publicity or press.
I bumped into him not long after he’d become manager, early February 2009. The team trained at Hamworthy Club and I was attending a work event. I was walking outside and saw Eddie coming towards me, I said hi and we chatted. He asked how I thought it was going. I told him that I thought it was going ok. He didn’t seem convinced and said that we still aren’t winning games. I said that the players are different, they are committed and we’re playing better, more of a team, he thanked me and moved on. I was left a little dazed, what manager would ask what a fan thought of the performances and then challenge a positive comment? I just checked the results that year, we lost the first 2 games, beat Wycombe and then drew 2. All before February.
I remember him being at the service for Mick Cunningham at DC. He and JT were there, unobtrusive. Just people paying respects.
When he started at Newcastle there was that time when he was leaving the training ground in the dark. They drove past waiting fans and then reversed and he got out to speak with them, it gave Newcastle fans an early indication of what was in store for them.
So today I will show my appreciation to a man who gave us all a lesson in humanity, in football, in determination, in making the impossible possible and, most of all, what leadership looks like. I don’t much care what other people choose to do but I will be showing my appreciation to a man who really did change everything. I suspect many of us will have something in our eyes.
From kick off to final whistle it is about the team.
About a performance.
About points.
Either side of that, for me, it’s about the occasion.
About Eddie.
One of our own.
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