James Marrett

I often see people on here from outside the football bubble bemoaning the fact that so many millions of people are obsessed with the game when there are “more important things” going on but without the release that football offers, so many would feel utterly lost and hopeless. We all know it doesn’t “matter” in the grand scheme of things but that’s the beauty of it. Allowing yourself to care about something so deeply which you have no tangible control over, alongside hundreds of thousands of people who feel the same way as you? That’s the good stuff. Football is the ultimate form of escapism, the opium of the masses, the opportunity to suspend the realities of life; bills, relationship problems or a job you hate and give yourself over to something which provokes a sense of childlike wonder and hope simultaneously. Ask Palace, Newcastle, Tottenham, Bologna or Napoli fans from this season alone if the feelings and emotions they’ve had are matched by anything in normal life? I’m pretty sure their collective response would be a unanimous “no”. That doesn’t make them fools, it doesn’t act as a measure of their intelligence, it simply means they’ve allowed their minds to care about something greater than themselves in a wholehearted and emotionally vulnerable way, which I happen to think is what life is all about. Supporting a football club is an exercise in perseverance and faith for 95% of us; those who choose to pour cold water on why that’s so important while the rest of modern society is so geared towards misery are missing the point. Thanks for reading my ramblings. ❤️