Cheer up Alan Shearer

As a certain football chant sung by Manchester United fans begins... I was humming the tune to it while writing this post, so please bear with me - it's not as incongruous as it may seem.

We've just returned from a long weekend at my parents' in Lytham St Annes for some pre-Christmas festivities. The main reason for returning to England in early December, however, was to watch the Premier League match between Blackpool and Manchester United. Courtesy of family connections, we had been kindly invited to take in the match from one of the executive boxes, complete with the proverbial three-course menu of prawn sandwiches. Being a United supporter who was born in Blackpool, I can safely say that it would have been one of the highlights of my footballing life, irrespective of the hospitality on offer. I had also been looking forward to throwing chicken scraps down to my dad and aunt sat with the have-nots in row one.

All the more disappointing then to hear the day before that the match had been postponed due to the freezing weather. Blackpool's pitch is the only one in the Premier League without undersoil heating, and it was apparently bone-hard even despite the slight thawing we had on the morning of the game. The fixture should be rescheduled for midweek some time, but whether I'll be able to fly back to watch it is another question.

As consolation, here's a picture of the tangarine chocolate delight I received instead.

Incidentally, on our easyjet flight from Zurich to Manchester last Thursday, fellow passengers on the plane included former players Andy Cole, John Barnes and a rather glum-looking Alan Shearer. All three were on the way back home after England's World Cup bidding debacle.

Cheer up Alan.