I came home for the first time in seven years over Xmas and was able to squeeze in the Baggies and Spuds games at home. I was amazed at how sterile an environment Villa Park (and I'm sure every other top flight ground) has become. Everything from the lack of smoke (I don't smoke but that aroma of cigar/cigarette is a huge factor in my memories of going down the Villa during my formative years) to the almost complete absence of noise other than moaning just amazed me. I understand that not many of us were happy with Houllier and things weren't going well results-wise around that time but I've experienced my share of lows at Villa Park over the years and I must say that I found the overall negativity to be very disheartening.
I personally haven't 'fallen out of love' with football by any stretch of the imagination but I think the OP will find that as he grows older he'll prioritise things in a different order. Around my early 20's was the time I started realising that I was getting over a defeat quicker and that was probably due to the fact that whether we won or lost on a Saturday had little impact on my Sunday, truth be told.
I still adore Villa and my young son will undoubtedly be the only sad little sod at his school in Claret and Blue in a few years time, you can count on that. But football in general doesn't have the appeal that it did for me in the 1980-90's due the obscene amount of it we now have access to. It's a blessing and a curse that if I'm stuck for something to do at 6am on a Friday I can usually be watching a game live in just a few mouse clicks.
UTV
