Why A Sports bag Was Germain To My Support Of PSG

Hello there. Hope you're feeling well today.

Yesterday work turned out to be surprisingly good. Let's take that into perspective. Good in this context means that things turned out better than expected. Miracles are for the young and the young at heart. I definitely don't fall into either category.

Still was in a pleasant "it's Friday and I'm not working this weekend" mood on returning home. My bonhomie was extended into the night as unusually for my non work life, the evening was planned out as well. Was going to watch the French Ligue 1 team I follow, Paris St Germain, play in the first match of the season away to Bastia.

As I've explained before, whilst West Ham United will always remain first for me, I'm of the belief that foreign leagues are only interesting if you pick a team to follow. The only link (with the exception of Fiorentina, chosen because they were the closest Serie A team to where my Italian relatives lived) to the teams I've followed is that the selection was distinctly random. With Paris St Germain it came down to a sports bag.

It was during our honeymoon in Paris that my wife and I found ourselves in some of the main shopping streets in the centre. It was I think near the Champs De l'Elysee. We had discovered a few things about Paris shopping habits that day. That Mcdonalds sold alcohol (something that would never happen in Britain) and that French bread was both softer and tastier than the dental danger it was marketed as in Britain. Most of all though it did seem that the centre of Paris was more similar to the centre of London than we had anticipated.

For reasons that have now escaped me there was a need to buy a new travel bag as the one I had was broken. Remember that we went into a large store and amongst the stuff on sale there was a PSG sports bag. It was not too big, not too small.In the immortal words of Goldilocks it was "just right".

So I bought it.......and still have it today.

The bag that started my support

It seemed only reasonable that PSG became the Ligue 1 side that I followed. All because of a sports bag....yes I know.

To those who would shout glory seeker at me (and being a West Ham fan this is something I'm constantly used to) this is the right moment to point out that this happened in 1998. Well before rich new owners and Zlatan. The biggest clubs in French football at that time were Monaco and the Olympics Lyonnais and Marseille. For me PSG's recent success/domination is the closest I will ever get to feeling like a Manchester City fan.

Of course this season is an important one for PSG given the change in manager and the departure to the Premiership of Mr Ibrahimovic. Genuinely hope he does well for Manchester United (apart from when he's playing West Ham) if only because he's in my fantasy team. I should point out though that I purchased Zlatan before Mourinho did.

Here's the proof:

As a PSG player I should add

So then, yesterday. Had my PSG shirt ready.

Not a football shirt I know. But OK as,they say, for leisurewear

Wife/daughter had decided to go and see a friend that evening. Leaving me all alone..........which meant I could see the game in peace and quiet.

PSG's opponents Bastia were tenth last season which meant they had the mid table respectability that they could not be underestimated, Indeed they had the best chance of the first half. Whatever respectably some of their fans had was lost the moment they started throwing objects (relatively big things as well) to some PSG players taking corner kicks presumably because of the colour of their skin. It was terrible to see. 

It was 0-0 at half time and as the second half progressed I felt as if it was going to be one of those games despite the Parisians being dominant for most of the time. Thankfully I was wrong with Kurzawa scoring late in the second half. That was the way it stayed. 

They were happy. I was happy. Although you could see a fit Cavani is needed. Three points is still three points. Especially as Monaco could only draw.

At the end of the game went to do the most British thing about me and made a cup of tea.

We shall see what the season brings.

Until the next time.