Damn! I have watched the Spain v Germany semi final and the Spanish have won it 1-0. Not good news for me, as although l think the Spain team are fantastic, I wanted Germany to win, as it would have made me look so cool (if that is possible), having put £5 bets on before the tournament on Holland and Germany to win the World cup, and both of them should have (hopefully) been in the final. Sadly, out of my bets, it is now Holland only in the final, and of course l want them to win, especially thinking about how much l loved them and Ajax Amsterdam in the early 1970's (plus l have £5 at nine to one on them). I did say to the FPO before the semi final that even if Germany got through to the final (meaning l would have won my bet because l had both teams), l still would have liked Holland to win, even though the bet was less (nine to one). If Germany won, it would have been fourteen to one (which of course l would have accepted and boasted about non stop), but as l am such an old bastard, l do remember the 1974 final when Holland lost, and would have liked them to gained revenge on the Germans. I have nothing against the Germans, in fact I like Germany a lot (in the past, I lived there for about five years). I would have made more money from the bet, and I would have spat in the eye of anyone who said they did not think the Germany team was good enough to go that far. Fact is though, the Cruyff team was the making of me, beautiful total control football, with the best player in the world at the time. I still curse the fact that my (twatting, selfish, bastard and unthinking) parents never bought me the Ajax top that was on display in Bootle when I was a kid. Bastards. It's not like I didn't hint I wanted it, as I went on and on about it. Still, when I ripped open my Christmas present that year, there was a Chelsea kit ready for me to wear for all school sports lessons (Chelsea??? For fucks sake, had they paid no attention to me for the previous few years??). Then again, maybe they had noticed me and it was retribution time for them. Once again, I blame my parents for the state I am in today. Bastards!
I now have an Ajax top which I bought myself, but it has the badge on (which I didn't want, being a stickler for convention and all that). I would much rather have had the version Johan is wearing above, but I could not find a copy. George Best was my hero, then Cruyff became a God. I still worship the path Georgie (and Keith) took though.
toodle pip