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I FELL DEEPLY IN LOVE PART I - BEN GLASS - 02-08-07
Ben Glass
I fell deeply in love sometime between August 1979 and May 1980. I loved so blindly and devotionally, forsaking all others.
My love was Football - namely Middlesbrough Football Club.
The summer such as it is, moves on to mid August and that time when each football fan worth his salt, is dreaming that "this could be our year". What of me and my hopes for the coming season? Well deep down inside I have to say I feel unmotivated by the whole nature of the game now, yes I have to admit my love affair is on the rocks and we both know it.
What died in me? Just how did the results of each game, which I used to take personally if we lost, become at times last season, no more than a passing interest for appearance's sake?
I must have been four maybe five years old, when I first started going to the hallowed turf of Ayresome Park, of which I have several pieces in my back garden. I lived and still live about thirty seconds walk from the place that saw some of the greatest players to grace the English game play.
My primary school was next door to the ground and I would spend most of the lessons staring through the windows up at the floodlights that dwarfed over the school. We often saw the players come and go through the red and white wrought iron gates that now stand proudly outside the Riverside.
On the days when Boro had an evening game, the away team bus would often arrive as we were leaving school for the day. One occasion back in January 1985 or 86 we hosted First Division Southampton and the then England, and world's best goalkeeper Peter Shilton was coming to town. It was as close as you could get to footballing royalty back then.
Boro were in a terrible state in those days, both on and off the pitch. We had sold all our best players to pay the mounting debts after the slump of the late 70's, it seemed that managers came and went with increasing regularity.
Bobby Murdoch, Malcolm Allison, and even the great Jack Charlton who came back for a caretaker spell, failed to turn around the slow dying death of the club. The crowds had all but disappeared; a stadium that still had an official capacity of over 40,000 was now getting crowds of fewer than 5,000.
I think it was during this time of hardship and depression that the bond between The Boro and I was cemented. I really have no idea why to be honest with you, my dad was a Boro fan of all his life but he never put any pressure on me to support the Boro. I am certain if I turned around one day and declared I was now a Liverpool fan like all the kids at school he would have gone along with my choice.
The summer of 1986 is well documented to Boro fans young and old, our near neighbours and not so friendly rivals in West Yorkshire are having their very own version of it right now. I do have some (not much) sympathy for Leeds United fans. What they are going through is not pleasant and we who lived through the summer of 1986 should know that.
The season we nearly went bust was the season I was deemed old enough to go to games all by myself. It was also the season that we were absolutely rubbish and had quite rightly got relegated, in spite of a sterling late season run which was inspired by our new boss Bruce Rioch, a fella called Bernie Slaven and a few of his pals. In the end we went down to the old Third Division, which to an eleven year old was like being sent to your room and told you couldn't come out for a day, then hearing all your mates playing football outside.
I remember the day quite well that the club rose from the dead over twenty years ago. I was sat watching TV on a Friday evening the day before the season was to start and it looked at that stage that we would not be taking part in that or any other season ever again.
Anyway there I was sat watching TV and my mam was hoovering the hall, when a local news flash came on and told me that Middlesbrough Football Club had been saved and would be playing tomorrow against Port Vale in the Third Division! I was happy and relieved, mainly because I was already at that stage thinking about whom I was going to support next, and I didn't want to rush into such a decision without long drawn out thought and a sneaky peep at the league table, once the season was well under way.
Part Two Coming Next Week...........
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A GUARANTEED PROFIT OF AT LEAST £41.20 ON PORTSMOUTH v FULHAM
Did you know that it is possible to win money on Sunday afternoon's Premiership clash between Portsmouth v Fulham, whatever the result?
The game kicks off at 3.00pm and we can guarantee you a profit of at least £41.20, whatever the result of the match. All you have to do is follow the simple instructions below and then sit back and enjoy the game. At full-time, you will be at least £41.20 better off, whatever the result of the match.
We must point out that if you want to take this bet, you should do it now because if the odds change, then the figures here will be invalidated. If they have changed, let us know and we will rework the bet for you.
You can still do this if you have a Betfair account but your overall profit will be reduced by £25.00 as you won't receive the £25.00 cashback as an existing account holder.
If you are unsure about this bet, you are most welcome to call us on 01642 223229 and we will help you as much as we can.
We're going to lay out a total of £71.00 on the Portsmouth v Fulham match and we will collect £115.00 if Portsmouth win, £112.20 if Fulham win and £114.13 if it's a draw. That's a minimum profit of 58%, a much higher interest rate than you will get in any high street bank.
Here's how it's done. Just follow these simple instructions.
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Open an account with Extrabet
 .
This shouldn't take you any longer than a few minutes.
2. Make the following deposits into your new accounts.
Deposit £20.00 into your new Coral account.
Deposit £26.00 into your new Betfair account.
Deposit £25.00 into your Extrabet
account.
3. Now make the following bets.
Place £20.00 on Portsmouth at 3.00 (2/1) with Coral.
Coral will now add a £10.00 bonus to your account. Place this on Portsmouth as well. You will now have £30.00 riding on Portsmouth.
Back the draw with £25.00 at 3.7 (11/4) (or higher if available) with Betfair.
Place £26.00 on Fulham at 2.2 (6/5) with Extrabet .
Extrabet match your first bet up to £25 so you will now have £51.00 riding on Fulham.
The £25.00 matched bet will not show in your account but you can read all about how it works on the Extrabet site. It's the purple box that says '£25 FREE BET FOR NEW CUSTOMERS' on the top right hand side. Click here to visit the Extrabet site.
If you are unsure about placing these bets, please feel free to mail us or call us on 01642 223229 and we will talk you through it, no problem at all. There is no such thing as a stupid question.
You have temporarily laid out a total of £71.00 on the Portsmouth v Fulham match. I stress, temporarily... Now sit back, crack a beer open and enjoy the match.
4. Here's what happens at the end of the game.
If Portsmouth win, you collect £115.00. That's £90.00 from Coral plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If it's a draw, you collect £114.13. That's £89.13 from Betfair plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
If Fulham win you collect £112.20. That's £87.20 from Extrabet plus a £25.00 cashback from Betfair.
5. This means that the worst case scenario on the Portsmouth v Fulham match is Fulham win and you make £41.20 profit. However, if it is a draw you make £43.13 and if Portsmouth win you make £44.00. That's a minimum profit of 58%, a much better rate of interest that you would get at any high street bank or building society.
6. It is absolutely vital that you click on the links on this page to open the accounts with the two bookies and enter the correct bonus codes or you may not qualify for the bonuses.
Also, before you place your bets, you should check that the odds haven't changed. If they have, let us know by mail or phone us on 01642 223229 and we will rework the bet for you.
Please feel free to contact us or phone us on 01642 223229 if you have any questions at all about this bet and we will help you as much as we can.
Please note that the bonuses are valid for new customers only so if you already have an account with one or more of the bookies we are using, you won't be able to do this. If that is the case, mail us or phone us on 01642 223229 and we'll create an alternative bet for you using different bookies.
This method of betting was used very successfully during the 2006 World Cup and you can read all about how it was done right here.
We guarantee this bet
It's understandable that some people will not believe that it is possible to do this. "What's the catch?" I hear you asking. My answer to that question is that we have been publishing arbitrage bets for four seasons now and literally hundreds of people have profited from following the advice on these pages.
Only twice has our refund guarantee been triggered and that was when we did all the figures wrong and sent refunds out to those who had followed our advice and made a small loss.
Our refund guarantee works like this. If this bet doesn't work like we say it will and you end up out of pocket, we will refund your losses. Simple as that.
That means that you simply cannot lose on this, whatever happens and even if we messed up the numbers.
The only stipulation here is that you must click on the links on this page to be eligible for the refund guarantee, not that you'll be needing to claim anyway. Just enjoy the profit and stay posted for many more of these throughout the season.
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