Blackpool.
3 years since I’ve been to the Fylde coast to observe the Tower lit up at night, since seeing the original Sooty puppet in a plexiglass case at the start of the North Pier, and since seeing tungsten flung at a board of bristles by men in silk shirts and casual slacks.
“Ah Mr Danter! We meet again!”
A fresh-faced young man bounded into the BRMB reception area to greet me, and it took me a moment to work out who this chap was who I hadn’t seen in the building before but seemed nevertheless to know me rather well.
Whilst the previous football season was divided into 2 unequal chunks pre and post-1st lockdown, this past campaign has been almost exclusively about empty stadia, bringing your own sarnies and, in my case, utilising a selfie stick for a decent, worthwhile reason (i.e. not taking a selfie) using it instead to conduct socially-distanced manager interviews on my iPhone!
Allowing for those in catch-up mode due to COVID-19 related postponements, the EFL Championship is into its 2nd half of the campaign. And looking at the table I have to immediately offer an apology to fans of the 3 relegated clubs who I believed - before a ball was kicked in September - would not ALL be a competitive force this season. Perhaps one or two of them would compete up there in the top 6, but not the lot of them. I reasoned to myself that the division was weaker for the promotion of Leeds, West Brom and Fulham coupled with the 3 coming down.
Another season draws to a close - one that nobody will ever forget for very obvious reasons. I thought I’d attempt to pick my way through it from my perspective as a commentator, particularly after last week (22nd July) where the Championship’s final set of regular season fixtures threw up the sort of stuff that still has you gently shaking your head and unable to sleep hours after the fact.
First of all, I do hope this blog finds you safe and well in amongst these extraordinary circumstances we’re all experiencing.
At present, there’s not a lot of work on for football commentator types, and the lockdown made me think that it was time to revisit the past and do something I’ve been threatening to do for well over a decade - namely, bring my old BRMB & Heart FM comedy shows back to life.
First off, I hope everyone reading this is finding their way as best they can through the current lockdown situation we all find ourselves in.
The lockdown has prompted many of us with free time to pursue things not normally planned, no matter how much fun they might be! In my case, it does now give me a chance to complete the guitars and vocals for my third solo album. But also I’ve finally got round to locating all the old radio show material I had on minidisc and make a show out of it all.
As I type in late-September, work is well underway on creating my 3rd solo album to follow on from 2013’s ‘Prove You Wrong’ and 2015’s ‘Second Time Around’. I’ve mentioned before that the follow up to my debut wasn’t in the plans originally, so to be toiling away on yet another collection of songs is way off my original radar.
This was the very definition of ‘bittersweet’.
I’ve just made a brew at my brother’s flat in North London having completed my 96th and final live football commentary for this season. So now is as good a time as any to reflect as I sup on Phil’s superior supermarket brand of Sri Lanka’s finest.
