"This is going to be a good season..."

Parking frustration in favour of having a bloody good time.

Sam Parry

This is going to be a good season…

Feel it in my fibres. Beyond that murky pool mixed of logic, scepticism and hard-boiled frustration at things passed. There is a ladder out of it. Not drowning but waving at the good times to come, happy clapping if you will.

Jack Robinson captain. The first Arblaster goal in front of the Kop. Kieffer Moore collecting the ballast from on high. That sumptuous left peg of Harrison Burrows, like scraps on top of a good chippy tea. O’Hare on the half-turn. Hamer on the left. Hamer on the left?! Sod it. Hamer anywhere. Souttar’s silhouette. Kids coming through. Brooks stepping up. Falling in love with Alfie Gilchrist, cos he’s got that Baldock-Morgan-Robinson mentality going on. Even Souza pointing. Or Anel leaving. Or Davies starting, an irritating frat pack of American owners, or an opening day loss.

Happy clap it all. Get behind em. Not just away. Not just away. Not just bloody away, cos Bramall Lane should be, can be, will be a fortress. That’s in our gift. On the right of hostile. Revel in the risk-takers, don’t moan at em. Atmos-fucking-phere. That’d be nice.

No, we don’t owe em anything. Not after last season. That most dislikeable side in a decade. But give em a chance. We haven’t won a game since Luton, 10 Feb. They haven’t won since Luton, 10 Feb. But the non-contests don’t exist down here. The water’s warmer, calmer, clearer. Enjoy it when it comes. Look how much it means to them when it happens.

Park all due cynicism in the Long Stay. Can reverse it out any time we like, and that’ll happen. Of course, that’ll happen. But it’s a choice, right? After that campaign, after the humblings, the thumpings, the walking out, the tuning out, the giving up; summat better this way comes, even if it arrives more by fluke than master plan. We’re gonna win games. Eventually, we are gonna win games, maybe even tonight. That’s the ticket. Journey over destination.

I remember Luton away. Giving it, “Jack Robinson, ole, ole.” And to finish, “We’ve won away, ole, ole.” More of that. This is going to be a good season. Into em Blades…