ABC.....another bitter cynic

ON THE train the other day, I bumped into a casual acquaintance who revealed he was a Chelsea fan.

He seemed a little self-conscious saying it, and quickly added that he was the real thing, going on to prove his credentials by describing David Webb's winning Cup Final goal in the 1970 replay against Leeds, and generally waxing misty-eyed about boyhood days absorbed in Match of the Day highlights from the Bridge when Osgood was good, Charlie Cooke dribbled and 'Chopper' Harris, well, chopped.

I stopped him before he felt obliged to time-tunnel back to Ted Drake and the Brylcreem years, not least because he wasn't even born then, but also because he already had a sympathetic ear for his earnest desire not to be mistaken for a Boris-come-lately member of the caviar sandwich brigade.