Forever Blue with Ian Cheeseman: A feast of football in London

Tameside Radio presenter Ian Cheeseman reflects on his busy weekend of football in the capital - both commentating and spectating - in his latest column.

What a weekend! I spent two days in London attending two football matches. The first was Wimbledon’s return to Plough Lane where the “original” Wimbledon FC had started their amazing journey from non-league into the top flight, beating Liverpool in the FA Cup Final along the way.

Their story then sees the club forcibly moved to Milton Keynes and rebranded as MK Dons. Their fans rebelled and created the phoenix club AFC Wimbledon, eventually retaking their club badge, colour and history from Milton Keynes while hopping from ground to ground while dreaming of returning “home”.

Well on Saturday they opened the doors to fans in their new stadium back on Plough Lane so you can imagine the outpouring of emotion. It was a joy to be hold. I felt like a gate crasher at the happiest party I’ve ever seen among football fans. They had their identity back but after 18 months of games behind closed doors, they were able to celebrate together again.

I was there as commentator for Bolton FM and iFollow and was also thrilled to see the Wanderers fans belting out their songs, on a lovely sunny day, from the away end.

The match didn’t disappoint unless your loyalties demanded nothing less than a win for your team because it proved to be a thrilling 3-3 draw. I was exhausted and exhilarated, in equal measure. On the way to my hotel I drove past the famous Wimbledon tennis centre and saw the outside of Centre Court. I dream of one day attending a match there. It’s top of my bucket list!

Surely my Sunday couldn’t equal what I’d experienced the day before, but after an early morning three-mile run, which would make my mentor Tracy proud from Active Tameside, I drove to Tottenham for Manchester City’s Premier League kick-off. From the moment I got off the tube at Seven Sisters it felt like a big occasion and that football with crowds was properly back.

Tottenham’s new stadium, which I’d visited before, is awesome. It looks space age on the outside and cavernous once in your seat. Around me were fellow Blues, some I hadn’t seen during the pandemic so it was joyous from the start.

The atmosphere was electric and the game was played at a tremendous pace from the word go. City started the stronger but couldn’t score a goal which encouraged Spurs to get more into the game. Physical challenges, that might not have been allowed behind closed doors, were back and although City were on the wrong end of some of these incidents, I loved that the passion was back.

As a Blue I was disappointed with the 1-0 defeat but it was so liberating and exciting to be in among the fans at a big game again. This single, negative result, won’t have any bearing on the eventual outcome of the Premier League title race. It was only one game and as the old cliché goes, “ it’s a Snickers not a sprint”! City have quality players, a great manager and fantastically loyal supporters and I have every confidence that they will win their next game and one again be in the thick of this season’s race for the title.

I want to see my team win as much as the next person but it was being there that mattered most to me last weekend and it’ll be great to be back at the Etihad, with all the fans, this coming weekend. I used to enjoy my life as an obsessed City fan, but I’m going to appreciate every weekend like I had at Wimbledon and Tottenham even more that I did before. I won’t ever take things for granted again.

Want more local sport stories?

Head to https://www.questmedianetwork.co.uk/news/sport/ to see more of our coverage - from community and non-league football to local and county cricket, boxing, athletics, basketball, Esports and golf.