In hindsight, I should have watched Bargain Hunt instead.
As the picture above shows, the nearest I got to Hayes Lane yesterday was watching it via SS+ on the main telly at SW19 Towers.
Yes, they are upturned IKEA baskets acting as mounts. I can’t find anything better.
Like just about everyone else, I suffered from viewing something that went from sharp to stuttering to blurry to almost unwatchable.
And the stream was pretty shit too.
Not that I’ve ever seen dodgy Russian streams, of course, but apparently they’re not nearly as bad as what the major UK sports broadcaster put out yesterday.
Granted, it finally improved midway during the second half, although we didn’t.
Neither did that woman commentator, who had “interesting” ways of pronouncing Bugiel’s and Ogundere’s surnames, and seemed like she was there because she knew the producer.
Again, not that I have any sort of knowledge of this, but the aforementioned Russian commentators likely make more sense than she did.
On this note, for some reason WDON wasn’t available even though Mikey T and co were apparently there broadcasting.
There are people who paid £45 for an audio only pass just to get them, so you can imagine their shock (and horror) when they get somebody who doesn’t even do a good job with pictures in front of her.
The reason why I was at home instead of Hayes Lane is because I wasn’t earmarked for a game yesterday after all, and there were no spares floating about.
So when I saw empty seats in the away end, you can imagine my reaction.
I’ve long given up expecting the club giving you any sort of information beyond how you give it money.
Anyone who paid their 45 quid to hear our own commentary for yesterday will understandably be pissed off.
Not that I expect AFCW to give a shit about that, after all it’s only giving their customers… sorry, owners something they want.
And we can’t have that.
You’ll notice I’ve got this far without mentioning any of the football. And to be honest, I effectively lost interest in the second half.
As I was at home, I was doing stuff much more useful than watching a game where we decided to go back to the last two pre-season games.
Funny how our defence, so rock solid last season, is now as bad as it’s been for a good while.
JJ and Ryan Johnson talked about “sloppyness” on the OS afterwards, though from what I was able to see we looked more laboured throughout.
Granted, this may sound a bit premature considering it was our second L2 game this season, but our current manager has to be a bit careful.
While he’s safe for now, there’s a definite expectation to get into the playoffs this campaign. And playing a formation that just doesn’t seem to work could see him next year practicing his guitar at home.
I should have been glad that the game was available on television, although 12h30 kickoffs are a bit shit for fans.
I haven’t bothered checking which other games of ours are kicking off at that time, although I know Franchise always starts then regardless.
Though I admit that if I’m ever covering a game, lunchtime is actually better (unlike 17h30 ones that are genuinely shit).
There’s a good number of our fans who watch games via streaming for understandable reasons. They live abroad, or up north, or simply can’t get to fixtures.
Despite how the game turned out, I would have much preferred to be at Hayes Lane than watching it on screen.
Why? Because you’re more “involved” when you’re at the game.
It’s quite interesting, if a bit jarring, to realise how easy it is to switch off (in both senses of the word) while watching us on television.
As I said earlier, I was doing something much more interesting during the second half, and like the team I kind-of forgot we were playing.
Some of that was the shiteness of the streaming in the first half, that eventually damaged my interest in having it on.
I’ll no doubt use the streaming service again at some point this campaign. It may be the better option for the (thankfully rare) long away trips in the evening this season.
But I guess this is what being an armchair fan of a Premier League team must feel like.
You can wear a replica shirt, put a decent sound system on your television, and join in the hype, but it’s different.
And not really in a good way…