Movin' on up

My light shines on

As previously stated here, there and just about elsewhere else, I've always been adamant that my football travels will never become a mere list-ticking and number-crunching exercise. But, in spite of all that, I still harbor a few nagging twinges of regret, that I didn't make more of an effort to spread my wings and venture out, exploring a few of the previously uncharted (by me least ways) territories that I had pencilled in to my meticulously pre-planned 2024-25 season itinerary.

In essence, though I will continue to live in absolute denial, ta very much, I might actually have to concede, that just maybe (AKA 100% no effing doubt about it), those scribbled notes do actually constitute a bona-fide bucket-list. Yes folks! I’ve been caught red handed, with my kegs round my ankles, completely guilty of irrefutable hypocrisy, as charged.

My loyalties to certain clubs are very deeply rooted, that’s probably fairly obvious to anyone who actually knows me. It's an undeniable fact thay I do genuinely care about my nearest and dearest (team-mates and affiliates), probably too damn much at times. However, those commitments already extend beyond merely exercising a sense of duty (of pinky promise proportions) and have become my new default settings, whereby I am accepting extra chores and responsibilities by the score and that was never my intended remit.

That complete package also encompasses having to contend with a whole heap of emotional baggage too. That said, if you don't get vexed, annoyed, seething and steaming from the ears angry from time to time, then I reckon you shouldn't get involved with the game, given that you're the wrong sort of person, inasmuch as you evidently don't care enough.

However, while I’ve been easing my own conscience (yes, despite the rumours I do have one), by standing by people through thick and thin (and invariably thinner), I’ve also unwittingly kind of straitjacketed myself and curtailed my usual uninhibited tendency to get around a bit. So, I’m going to grasp that nettle forthwith, hypothetically speaking of course, I’d never be that brave or daring (or so bloody stupid, I would hope) in real life. Because, once more (unto the breach, dear friends, once more) ‘tis time to venture out to explore pastures new.

It’s been quite a while (far too long actually) since my giddy compass has had a decent outing. So, without further ado, plans are already gathering apace and taking shape, to ensure that I’ll eventually nudge past a modest target-figure I have in mind, well before the Spring bank holiday weekend is upon us. Yes! I’m also guilty of number-crunching too. I will sit on the naughty step to write the remainder of this post, by way of penance, in light of all of the above confessional declarations. I’ll not be indulging in my rediscovered desire to roam all of the time of course, but I do intend to exercise a tad more flexibility for the remainder of the current season. And I have it on very good authority that those ‘bit on the side’ manoeuvres will most likely be instigated by a weekend long groundhopping excursion to the north-northwest territories of this sceptred isle any time soon.

Familiarity and revisiting the same old places (and faces) time and time again, ad nauseam, is a routine (repetitive, yet not unpleasant) vocation, that I’ve become all too familiar with, especially across the duration of the past few seasons. But, by heck, the need to stray away from my comfort zone and try a few more different flavours, is an itch that needs to be scratched soon, very, very soon, before I become suffocated in a stupor of sameness.

Will galavanting off on a capricious and untethered whirlwind tour de force (or tour de farce even) destabilise any arrangements that are already agreed to in principle, as regards any of the ‘official' club duties I undertake at present?

I would definitely have thought so, but that's a risk that I am going to have to take. Will I miss the camaraderie and mutual respect with my peers and the kudos that comes from being in a privileged position entails? Hell yeah! Initially, I will doubtless wonder if I’m doing the right thing in the long run too.

But f*ck it, eh!? A rolling stone gathers no moss, there's a myriad of opportunities out there… and any positions I’ve left vacant will soon be filled by other people, who in all likelihood will probably be more suited and do a better job than I ever could hope to do. Nobody is irreplaceable, especially me!

So let's get ready to rumble! Now where did I put that bloody list!? As if by magi, found it! Seven, eight, nine, ten; coming ready or not!