This Leicester Life: Marathons, Myanmar and mental health
Since I started the This Leicester Life series, a few people have suggested I speak to TFW’s very own away day correspondent Becky Taylor about her experiences following Leicester City all over the country and the continent.
An hour later, there were more than a few ridiculous stories to shape into this Q&A…
DB: What's your first memory of Leicester City?
BT: I'm not actually sure. My dad is to blame for me not going to watch as early as some, because he played football on a Saturday and I went along to watch him. So he got me into Leicester and then took me away from them!
The first years I got properly into it were the two years before we went down to League One, so around 2006 and 2007. That was when it finally felt real, like I was a proper fan. I was trusted to go down with my mates and experience it all properly.
DB: Do you remember your first away game?
BT: The one that sticks out is Chelsea away in the League Cup in 2007. That was the one that hit home what away games are about. I just remember thinking, wow, everyone was up for it. I think we had about 6,000 fans there. We were in the lower tier and I was so in the moment that I went to start a chant. Then in my head I was like, "Why have I just done that? I'm like... a little girl". But people actually enjoyed it. I remember that feeling so vividly.
Obviously it was a ridiculous game and it didn't quite turn out how we would have liked but that was the one. It had that typical away game moment of only just making the train home, and all these little things added up to give me the buzz.
DB: So then you get to a stage where you're going to pretty much every game?
BT: The only time I really miss a game is when I'm either out of the country or for some kind of family reason. And the only big gap I've had was actually during the title-winning season, which was the year I chose to go travelling.
People always ask me if I'm gutted I missed a lot of that season, but watching the games in different South East Asian countries was great. For one game I was in Myanmar and I thought I probably wouldn't be able to watch it. I got into the centre of Yangon and had my Leicester shirt on and someone shouted "Jamie Vardy's having a party"…
It was weird seeing the locals in Thailand supporting us and celebrating like Leicester fans. But everywhere we went, people just wanted to talk to us about Leicester City.
DB: And then you're back, we've won the league and we're in the Champions League - presumably you've done almost every European away game?
BT: The only European game I've missed in the past few years was Moscow and I very, very nearly spent lots of money to do that too, but I'd just started a new job. The Champions League was another ridiculous experience though. Even now I get goosebumps thinking "Did that actually happen? Was that real?"
There were some great games in the Conference League. Randers was brilliant. But if I had to pick just one of the European games as a favourite, it'd probably be Bruges. It wasn't difficult to get to so it felt like everyone was there and I love the ones where everyone's in the same place together, in that square in the city centre.
Then getting inside the ground, obviously hearing the Champions League music and I remember just standing with my hands on my head for the entire game. I couldn't believe this is what we were doing.
DB: What about the worst?
BT: Napoli. 0 out of 10. We went through all that COVID malarkey. I thought Naples would be nice but it's a bit of a dive. It didn't help that it was pouring with rain the entire time we were there. The only thing that saved that trip at all was the pizza. That was unrivalled.
The rest of it was just a shambles, doing the COVID tests and getting on a bus and then someone pointing a camera right in your face, looking at your passport and your ticket and then back at your face. You get on the bus like some kind of criminal. Just as we were getting on the bus, there was a massive bolt of lightning, like something from a horror film.
There were about four seats and everyone else was standing, which I didn't mind because we'd googled it and it said it was a 20-minute journey… I think it took three and a half hours.
We were the lucky ones because we got there just before kickoff. But there were some that missed such a portion of the game and I think potentially both of our goals as well. We spent all of the next day drying our clothes. It was just miserable.
DB: So for away games, how much difference does the game make to the day as a whole?
BT: Oh, minimal. I think we've learned over the years that if you pin all your hopes on us football-wise and playing well, we've had lots of good stuff but we've also had plenty of crap as well. And you shouldn't pin all your hopes on that. You're going to be in for a disappointing time.
It's more just spending time with your pals, having a good laugh. I take my little brothers to games and that’s something that’s really important to me.
I also find especially these days people spend so much time on their phones but when we're travelling together to away games it just feels like everyone is a lot more present. People talk these days about your purpose and all that jazz and I always feel at away games this is where I want to be spending my time and not worrying about the result because that is something I can't control. So why get stressed about it?
DB: You've written before about the positive effect football has on your mental health. Have there been any periods where you've thought you just couldn't face it today, but you've made yourself go? What's that been like?
BT: Yeah, probably more times than I ever let on to people but I think part of that is the habit. The habit of going. I'm always okay once I'm there and I know that. If I feel like I'm struggling, I could happily sit there and stay in bed but I think if I did that once, then I might do it again and again.
Sometimes I might think "I'm not feeling it today" and go into it thinking I'm not going to talk to anyone. I'm just going to get through it. And then by the end of the day, I'm always getting back to myself so much more.
DB: I know what you mean. I had a period of missing a few games and there were two games in particular towards the end of that period where I was still sitting at home but I was starting to feel more like myself and I thought why am I missing these?
The real jolt was the 4-2 win against Manchester United. The next home game was Arsenal and I managed to make it along. We lost and we didn't have a shot but I was just thinking I don't care. I was just glad to be there, which I'd never ever felt at any other game. It had always been about winning.
I hadn’t considered the European trips though despite going to all the Champions League away games. Then when we played in Rennes, seeing all these videos on Twitter of fans in pubs, I suddenly felt angry with myself, like "you should be there, why aren't you there?"
So I wanted to ask you about the period without fans and then the FA Cup Final... COVID hits and if you're going every week, and then suddenly you can't go, how did that affect you?
BT: Yeah, it was horrendous. But I think I was so conscious to not let that whole period overcome me in general. If it had just been the football that had stopped, it would actually have affected me a lot more, but it was everything so I made my peace with it. I was gutted we couldn't go to Braga though, because I love how their stadium looks, with the cliff above the stand at one end.
When it came to the FA Cup final, I have a bit of a silly story for that. As it was getting closer, I realised that I'd been for a run on the morning of every game in the competition. So being a bit superstitious, I needed to do it again on the morning of the final. I asked on Twitter what I should do and someone replied that it had to be a marathon. I replied to say "yeah, right".
But I didn't want to be the one that messed up our best chance of finally winning the FA Cup. I hadn't really planned it properly but I knew I'd include the ground as part of the route. I'd never run further than 18 miles before but I thought if I have a Jelly Baby for every mile I'd be able to get through it.
I love the celebrations from that game so much. I don't know if it's just because everyone had space but the celebrations felt like absolute carnage.
DB: I need to ask you about Brendan Rodgers. You were vocal about him pretty early on, so at what point did you start to think it wasn't working?
BT: For me, it was starting to go wrong about 18 months or two years before he finally went. I really did want to think of him positively with what had happened while he was here but the big thing that got to me was that it was all about him. It was calculated about him in terms of protecting himself and his brand.
I can't really put my finger on when it turned but, however you want to portray it as bottling the top four or whatever, it absolutely was - twice! - and people said it was our second best finish and that kind of thing but I thought, he's not getting the mentality right and he's allowing the bottlers to take over that mentality and they're just dropping off.
DB: With individual players, I will only criticise them if they're not trying because they can't help how good they are and players will be inconsistent and I think it's the same sort of thing with managers. I'd already thought at the Forest FA Cup defeat about everything going in the wrong direction.
But at the start of last season I really started questioning whether he was putting 100% into the job. Which brings us to the bedsheet incident...
BT: The Chelsea home game really got to me. It felt as if Brendan had persuaded everyone with the whole Mini vs Ferrari press conference. Chelsea were on the worst run and we could have got a result but it was like we'd already decided we'd lost it. They absolutely battered us and I was walking out of that and I said "I'm sick of him, I'm going to take a banner to Brentford". I have random moments where I just lose my head a bit.
So yeah, I decided he needs to go. It was the day before St Patrick's Day so I had a half day from work for some drinks meaning I had a bit of time. I came home and just painted it all out on a bedsheet. I was just proud of the good job I did with it! It looked good!
It took it along and a friend of mine told me to hold it up during the game but I said I'm not touching it until after the game. I support the team for the ninety minutes and then make the point. When I put it up, people were saying "you're not supporting the team".
We got a draw in that game and it was one of our better games last season. But that was irrelevant looking at the bigger picture. It didn't mean things were okay and even if we'd won, I'd still have put the banner up.
I held it up and still can't believe the reaction from some people. Some bloke in his 50s or 60s absolutely lost it. He tried to pull the banner off me and almost pulled my arm out of its socket. My friend had to basically act as a security guard and he told me afterwards this guy had spat at me. It's a good job I didn't know at the time because I'd have lost it myself. I don't understand how people were so brainwashed.
People from the club were nearby and neither of them were interested in either side of what was happening. They didn't want to be part of the drama. I put myself in that scenario but my thoughts were that before the international break at the time, I knew we needed a new manager and I just felt the need to do something.
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