A - and it's unconditional.
Waking up on the Saturday morning to glorious sunshine, switching on the TV to see fans being interviewed and celebrity fans giving their predictions, seeing the team coaches at the hotels, seeing the players on the pitch in their spanking suits, seeing Wembley Way half blue and half red, seeing Wembley Stadium half blue and half red, Abide With Me, teams emerging from the tunnel end, the band on the pitch, even the Wembley goalposts inspire memories, God Save The Queen, the roar of a goal going in, the 39 steps, the royal box, lifting the cup, the lid invariably ending up on someone's head and the cup itself brimming with bubbly, collecting the medals, being the envy of everyone else for just one day.
Is this what football in England has really come to - taking not first, second or even third in the league, but fourth over actually winning a competition? I did not start watching football because of the financial incentives of finishing fourth. I watched football because it is first and foremost about WINNING, but about memorable days such as those at Wembley. And when your team hasn't won anything for 34 years, I'd have thought your ultimate priority above anything else would be to put a pot on the table.
