Fever Pitch Page #4

then they f*** off!

Shut up!

Did you get it?

Yes.

Can I see it?

It's in me purse.

Brilliant. Thanks, Mum.

I've got to do

an extra hour tomorrow.

Left the office at twelve,

I didn't get back till three.

They asked you

what end you wanted?

No. I said, "One, please"

and they gave me that.

How comes you got a ticket

in the Reading end?

Had to get it off a tout.

How much did that cost you?

Fiver.

D'you live in Islington?

Well, near, yeah.

How near is near?

Place called Maidenhead.

Maidenhead?

Maidenhead in Berkshire?

Two miles down the road?

More like six.

Bit nearer Reading than Arsenal.

You should be

supporting your local team.

Look...

Excuse me.

Just seen someone I know.

And was the ticket

all right, in the end?

I was standing with a load

of country bumpkins at first.

Then I found Jenkins and them.

So you stood with Jenkins?

What would YOU know?

You must've been sick

when they equalised.

I heard it on the radio.

The place went mad.

Just had to stand and take it.

Good old Pat Rice, though.

- He never scores, Pat Rice.

- First of the season.

We're good in the Cups,

aren't we?

McNab won't play.

Bertie Mee wouldn't risk him.

How long will it take

to get to Birmingham?

Couple of hours. Maybe three.

But we'll be there by two?

Oh, sure.

How about if we did something

different this afternoon?

How d'you mean?

I thought you might like

to meet Jane and

the kids for lunch.

Then maybe take 'em to the zoo

or pictures... somewhere.

They've been over this week

visiting their grandmother.

They'd love to meet you.

You don't mean instead

of the game, do you?

We couldn't do both.

You didn't get

any tickets, did you?

The tickets are

waiting for us there.

So you're telling me

you've got tickets

but you wanna go and see

"The Jungle Book"?

You're teasing me, aren't you?

We don't have to go to Arsenal

every time I'm in London, do we?

I thought we were

beyond that stage.

We'll never be

beyond that stage.

# Out here in the fields

# I fight for my meals

# I get my back into my living

# I don't need to fight

# To prove I'm right

# I don't need to be forgiven

I thought you said

you'd look after me.

You said you didn't need

looking after.

You're gonna get

your f***ing heads kicked in!

Gonna get your f***ing heads

kicked in!

F***ing jump

for the ball, Niall!

Come on, Arsenal!

Do you want this or not?

'Everton nil, Norwich nil. '

You'll get used to it.

I don't wanna get used to it.

What's going on at

the Liverpool/Forest game?

There's trouble or something.

They ain't kicked off yet.

There. Heard about Hillsborough?

This guy was just saying.

Bloke up there reckons

there's people hurt.

Jesus. What happened?

I dunno.

You all right?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Arsenal!

Arsenal!

Arsenal!

Arsenal!

'Semi-final

'between Nottingham Forest

and Liverpool

'at the Hillsborough ground

in Sheffield.

'It's feared that at least

'were crushed to death.

'Hundreds were forced

on to the pitch. '

It's just so stupid.

'The Liverpool manager,

Kenny Dalglish,

'and his opposite number,

Brian Clough,

'were clearly appalled

by the scenes.

'There's so far

nothing to suggest... '

So stupid.

'.. that what happened

'was the result

of violence amongst fans. '

They must've realised

something like this

was gonna happen one day.

One afternoon on the North Bank

and you're an expert.

Well, that's it, then.

That's what?

You can't go back now, can you?

'Course we will.

How can you?

Because...

because everyone else will.

Because the game will go on.

They'll even replay this one.

This doesn't change anything.

I just don't get you.

No, I know you don't.

It's not just me you don't get.

It's any of us.

I hope the rest of them

aren't as selfish

and manipulative as you.

What's selfish about

watching a football team?

It's all selfish, all of it!

All those stupid stories

about how your mum's cats

are called after great players

and how she drove

through the snow

to get you a Cup ticket.

You stopped seeing your father

when you didn't need him

to take you

to the games any more.

And we're supposed to understand

because football's football.

When we think of Paul,

we think of Arsenal.

It makes me sick!

I hated this afternoon.

D'you wanna know why?

Because if you didn't

give a toss about Arsenal,

what are you left with?

You pay 5 to stand

on a lump of concrete.

You can't see anything,

you're not even safe.

And you can't complain

because that would be

letting the lads down.

That'd show

you didn't care enough.

Well, at least

we care about something.

At least we're not in

night after night

worrying about our lesson plans.

Whether a Scale 3

might come up in Bournemouth.

Perhaps one day you'll learn

to care about something

you can't tick.

Thanks.

I'm sorry.

Football

has meant too much to me

and come to represent

too many things.

After a while,

it all gets mixed up

together in your head.

You can't remember whether

life's sh*t

because Arsenal's sh*t

or the other way round.

I've been to watch

far too many games,

spent far too much money.

Fretted about Arsenal

when I should have been

fretting about something else.

I've asked too much

of the people I love.

OK, I accept all that.

Perhaps it's something

you can't understand

unless you belong.

But what about this...?

Three minutes to go

and you're two-one up

in a semi-final.

You look around and see

thousands of faces

contorted with fear

and hope and worry.

Everyone lost.

Everything else

gone out of their heads.

Then the whistle blows

and everyone goes spare.

And just for those few minutes,

you're at the centre

of the whole world.

And the fact

that you care so much,

that the noise you've made

has been such

a crucial part of it,

is what makes it special.

You've been

as important as the players

and if you hadn't been there,

who'd have been bothered

about football, really?

The great thing is,

it comes round again and again.

There's always another season.

If you lose

the Cup Final in May,

there's the third round

to look forward to in January.

What's wrong with that?

It's actually pretty comforting

if you think about it.

But every now and then -

not very often, but it happens -

you catch a glimpse of a world

that doesn't work like that.

A world that doesn't stop in May

and begin again in August.

There's some stuff

that just never comes back.

And some stuff

that just won't go away.

And some stuff

that you couldn't ignore

even if you wanted to.

Hello.

'It's me. '

Do you know what time it is?

'Yeah, and I'm sorry. '

Listen, are you pregnant?

Are these for me?

Yeah.

Flowers.

I suppose they were,

once upon a time.

Thank you.

Come on, Jo.

Oh.

And chocolates!

It's come just at

the right time for me.

It's come just at

the right time for me.

I was gettin' bored with

that pub and football stuff.

You can only spend so much time

playing Subbuteo.

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