THE CURE FOR WINTER BLUES

For better or worse, football is one of the few outdoor sports that is played in all seasons, providing a challenge to players and supporters alike.

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Us fans begin the football season in late summer, a polyester parade of shirts and shorts, bathed in sunshine and full of hope.

This soon yields to the changing hues of autumn, hopefully with some points on the board and a sniff of success. It's almost unthinkable in those opening months to be plunged into bleak midwinter, swaddled against the elements, early season optimism often shrivelled like the leaves.

As well as freezing your bits off, the diverse horrors of an English winter can play havoc with the fixture list, which is a shame as the fixtures are one of the few things that keep you going, particularly during the so-called festive period. As any sane adult will surely concur, Christmas Day is the most boring day of the year, only made bearable by the prospect of getting away from it all for a Boxing Day match. Sadly, this season I was robbed of this basic human right. For logistical reasons, Marine were only able to give Chester 315 away tickets, none of which fell into my grubby paws.