It is hard to believe - I know! - that the stunning, suave, hunk of a man writing this post (no sniggering) was once a timid and shy young lad; but I admit it, I very much was! I didn't really and truly 'find myself' until I made the break from the parental home, bound for Nottingham University.
Somewhere in the attic of memories (not a metaphor, there is really an attic, and it is full of artifacts from the early Adrian years) there is a diary of my first few weeks at Notts; they were not the greatest. As I recall, they were broken down as follows......
5% lectures
35% homesick
20% cowering in my room and too scared to venture out
20% forcing myself to venture out before I became known as......well......'the person who never comes out of his room'
20% feeling totally lost and unsure how the hell I am going to make a life for myself here
I was still in a state of shock on the first Wednesday of my time there; three days in an environment as alien as I had ever experienced was really taking its toll. The one shining light was where I was going on that evening; as quite by chance Stockport County were playing Notts Forest in the League Cup second round, second leg; the first leg of which I had watched in Stockport only a week earlier.
The game and the result really didn't matter (we lost!!); what mattered was seeing all those Stockport players, and all the Stockport fans. It was a source of great comfort; something much more than just a football match. A message to me that no matter how tough things are at the moment, no matter how homesick I am, no matter how displaced I feel; that Stockport will always be there if I need it, Stockport County will always be there if I need it, and home will always be there if I need it. It may sound pathetic, but that gave me immense inner strength.
The coincidences didn't end there, as the following Saturday, County played an away match against Mansfield (very near to Nottingham) so I went to that too. Then on returning to university after my first visit home, I was walking out of Nottingham station, only to bump into one of our central defenders in the taxi rank!
County - and I'm sure most football clubs - get a lot of stick when times are hard (matches are expensive, players don't try hard enough, directors and owners are only in it to make a fast buck etc) and I confess I do at times fall into the category of 'giver-of-stick'. What I forget is that I owe Stockport a lot too; good memories, exciting memories, and very occasionally, help to adjust to new-stages in life!
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