Fuck Aston Villa. Fuck Birmingham.
I usually love a Brum away day. An hour and 20 on the train and a few decent boozers in and around the stadium. I do not even mind then having to get another train to the slums that Villa, WBA or Birmingham reside in. It is always a decent trip.
The writing was on the wall before we even left Euston as they train we were on got cancelled. A complete lack of communication from West Midlands Railway meant no-one knew what was going on.
It was only 20 minutes after our scheduled departure that we heard from the train driver as they announced the train was cancelled and what platform the next one was leaving from. And then that train was delayed…
The last time I had suffered such a bad departure from Euston was a few years back when we played Manchester City. All trains were cancelled due to something at Watford and then, just as we were about to go to the Royal George, the line re-opened. We arrived into the ground 10-minutes late and were 4-0 down at half time.
Back to Saturday…
As we approached Northampton, we were informed that we would have to change trains to another that was awaiting our arrival. A train full of passengers were then met with an already packed train waiting for us due to the previous Northampton to Birmingham train being cancelled. And things only got busy as we went through Coventry and beyond and discovered more trains ahead of us had been cancelled.
Eventually we got into Birmingham for a quick couple of pints before heading to Witton.
What then followed was a fairly average Arsenal performance against a fairly unimpressive Aston Villa.
They are brilliant at home, and Villa Park is certainly a lot louder now than it was a few years back when they were battling relegation playing in front of a stadium that was 20% empty.
Like many clubs, there recent “success” has seen a return of fans that abondoned them during the dark days. The breed of fan that sing about winning a European Cup when things are good, and then go to the Christmas market instead when things turn.
And things will turn at Villa.
It will not take too much for someone like Emi Martinez to go from cult hero to hated. His constant desire to time waste at every opportunity will soon grate for Villa fans. Likewise, their fickle fans will soon turn on Unai Emery the moment they go on a bad run. I would not be surprised if Graham Potter or Eddie Howe is managing them in 18-months time.
They are very much like Newcastle. A good few months has gone to their heads and now they think they are a top club again. Newcastle were great season. This seaosn they are 7th (at the time of writing), and fans are beginning to call for Eddie Howe’s head and demanding an upgrade on “best in the world” Nick Pope. Villa will be the same in a year.
So we lost the game, and once again the refereeing performance has proved Mikel Arteta and Arsenal right. Officiating in this country is not good enoug,
The elbow on Eddie Nketiah, the clear and obvious penalty, and the wrongly disallowed goal. Arteta was sitting in the stands after recieiving 3-yellow cards, and has basically been silences by the Premier League and PGMOL who have made it very clear that their officials are above criticism.
So we head home feeling a little down, but at least we will be back in London by midnight. Or so we thought.
In a repeat of what happened on the way to the game, the train we were on was cancelled 45 minutes after its scheduled departure. Again, West Midlands Railway failed to let anyone know anything until the decision was made to cancel the train. Apparantly it was due to a lack of guards…
Those that managed to get on the (very, very busy) train before us ended up having to change 4 times, turning a 2 hour return journey into a 3 and a half hour hell ride. But they were the lucky ones.
With our train cancelled and no more leaving for London, the train company had to put on cabs and coaches to get us home. It is a 10pm on Saturday night in Birmingham. Not an easy task.
The first cabs started arriving at around 11:30, but it was ones and twos, not a fleet. And no sign of a coach. A quick shout out to the New Street concourse staff who were all polite and did a great job letting us know what they knew. All apologetic on how long things were taking.
One single coach then arrived at shortly after midnight that 50 folks then jumped onto, still leaving loads of us left. Luckily it was not too cold or wet.
Being the gentleman I am, I was at the back of the queue. Happy to let others got first. Eventually I got one of the last taxis at around 2.30am, getting back into Euston at 4.30 on Sunday morning.
Getting to Euston would not be the end of my journey. It would be another hour, two more trains and taxi before I would walk through my door in Loughton.
Despite the travels and tribulations, I finally got into my bed at around 5.30m in the morning. Tired, defeated, but at least I did not live in Birmingham!
Saturday was just our 2nd defeat of the season. Newcastle (oddly enough, Newcastle also had huge train issues!) and Aston Villa are not easy to go. And made tougher when we face such poor referee’s. 2nd in the league. We are in this title race.
Keenos
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 
How long do you think it will be until a club sues the PGMOL? These billionaires don’t like losing and don’t take no for an answer.
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