Was Wolves defeat THAT important – read this and decide

By Allen Cummings

I’ve allowed myself a bit of ‘reflection time’ over the weekend. A chance to step back, draw a breath and re-assess our defeat by Wolves from a different perspective.

Yes I was appalled, angry, frustrated, disgusted and more, like so many others, by what I saw unfold on Saturday. That was not the way any of us would have wanted the afternoon to play out I’m sure. But was the ultimate defeat really ‘the end of the world’ as some people seem to be suggesting?

I went to the London Stadium, like many others, hoping to see our first win, at the very least our first point in the Premier League this season.

I was enjoying a pre match chat with a fellow supporter, a friend I’ve made through supporting West Ham, by sitting together first at Upton Park, and now at our new home.

When we’d exchanged our views on the season so far and our hopes for the game ahead, he almost casually told me he’d had a bit of “bad news” during the week. Not knowing what to expect, he went on to explain whilst attending hospital in relation to another medical issue, he’d been told they’d discovered signs of cancer in his liver and lungs.

I just didn’t know what to say. He was incredibly upbeat though, and talked openly about what lay ahead, the battle he faces and the determination he has to see it through.

Sadly the following 94 minutes of football failed to give him, and the rest of us, the lift that would have been so welcome in the circumstances.

My anger about the game was pretty raw immediately afterwards but then I began to think ‘did it really matter that much’?

In the grand scheme of things was it really as big an issue some were making it out to be? Is that famous Bill Shankly quote: “Some people think football is a matter of life or death. I can assure them that it is much more serious than that” actually correct.

Sorry Bill you got it wrong with that one. It’s really not that important! Certainly not after what I learned on Saturday. The older I get the more I realise football is a mere distraction to real life – not a representation of it.

I know my fellow supporter will be reading this because he’s a member of this particular forum. I just wanted to say you mate, I have so much admiration for you and your attitude to the road ahead. My hopes and prayers are with you all the way!