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Games you chose not to attend (and always regretted...)

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    Games you chose not to attend (and always regretted...)

    In 2005 I planned the following trip

    Wed 25th May - Champions League Final in Istanbul
    Sat 28th May - USA v England in Chicago
    Tue 31st May - Colombia v England in New Jersey

    ...then on to Toronto via Niagara Falls

    I hovered over flight bookings but decided to bin off Istanbul. I'd been to every CL/EC Final since 1992 but, remembering the nerve shredding hunt for tickets in 1999, I decided I couldn't face that again with one of Liverpool or Chelsea getting through (they were paired in the semi final) so I just booked for America

    Then a week before I was due to fly, two things happened - West Ham reached the play off final and a friend secured tickets in Istanbul

    I almost did it - fly to Istanbul, from there to Chicago, then fly back to Heathrow and on to Cardiff, back to New York evening after the match and arrive just in time for the game in New Jersey next day

    In the end I stuck with the original booking, missed one of the greatest European comebacks of all time and West Ham getting promoted - all in favour of two dull and completely forgettable England friendlies

    Anyone else made as bad a choice as that?

    #2
    Away to Bayern Munich in the UEFA cup. Credit card was already creaking from other European trips, I had a few jobs to do around the house and embarrassingly, thought I'd watch us in Germany or somewhere similar another time.

    I've seen lots of ups and downs following Bolton but missing possibly the clubs highest point to decorate the spare bedroom. It still pains me.

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      #3
      I missed Shrewsbury's only play-off win - the Conference Final in 2004 at the Brittania Stadium (which would have been a new ground too).

      In 1996 Shrewsbury played Liverpool.in the FA Cup. The original game was postponed and I decided not to travel back from uni for the rearranged game and gave my ticket away. Shrewsbury lost 4-0 but I still can't really believe I didn't go.

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        #4
        I swerved the 1999 FA Cup semi final replay to study for an exam I didn't go to.

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          #5
          Villa 8 Exeter 2 in the League Cup, mid eighties. It was that time when crowds were really low, we'd had sub-10000 crowds and I couldn't face it, I had a meeting the same evening which I could have skipped but didn't. Gary Williams scored the only two goals of his Villa career.

          Villa 7 Wimbledon 1, mid nineties. Worked overtime because (a) I needed the money and (b) games against Wimbledon were always dull.

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            #6
            Shamrock Rovers 4 Bohemians 6. We were 4.1 down at ht, and is still one of the most celebrated games in our history. We were in terrible form, and I couldn't see us getting anything, so I decided to stay at home watching West Ham knocking Manchester United out of the cup.

            I also swerved away European games against Kaiserslautern ( won 1.0) and Salzburg ( drew 1.1 ) when I had the money and mates were going, don't know why I missed them.

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              #7
              I was offered a short-notice ticket for Steven Gerrard’s last ever game for Liverpool. You know, the one that finished Stoke City 6-1 Liverpool. As you can guess from the response being on this thread, I passed on it...
              I did, however, attend the opening Stoke game of the following season, coincidentally also at home against Liverpool. The score when I was in the stands? Stoke 0-1 Liverpool

              I was also offered my uncle’s ticket for Leicester vs Everton in May 2016 a few weeks in advance of the match, on the grounds he was going to be in Australia for work at the time. Leicester vs Everton was where Andrea Bocelli was singing, the Premiership trophy being presented, that sort of thing. It was probably a good thing that I hadn’t confirmed I would take it as my uncle decided that spending ?1000+ to fly around the world and back to be present on that particular day was worthwhile. As he is probably the most committed Leicester fan in the family (IIRC one of his trips home from Oz to watch the Foxes got a mention in a match day programme), that one probably worked out for the best.

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                #8
                One back the other way - I was present at Cambridge 7-2 Mansfield, but both the mates who I usually went to games with around then passed on it. One had only just got back in to town that morning and was ‘too tired’, l can’t remember the reason why the other swerved it. Neither was all that happy with their decision when we met down the pub that evening.

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                  #9
                  Originally posted by 1974ddr View Post

                  Villa 7 Wimbledon 1, mid nineties. Worked overtime because (a) I needed the money and (b) games against Wimbledon were always dull.
                  I went to this game. I remember it well as it was one of the first games I attended outside London under my own steam. Not hugely enjoyable except for in a perverse kind of way of having fun in the rain whilst getting spanked on the pitch. Tommy Johnson played a blinder for Villa that day and scored a hat trick.

                  Personally, though it doesn’t quite fit the description of “a game I chose not to attend”, I didn’t attend the 1988 FA cup final which I assumed at the time was because my dad couldn’t obtain tickets. A while later he revealed we could have done through my Junior Dons membership, but thought that Liverpool might give us such a thrashing as to scar me for life.

                  But doesn’t every decision split the universe? I’ve later reconciled that 88 cup final situation with the thought that the result may have gone a different way if I had attended.

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                    #10
                    I had enough spare money for only one game in fall of 1997. I chose watching the US screw up a home qualifier to Jamaica over DC United winning the league in the final against Colorado.

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                      #11
                      Not football, but cricket; and not one which I didn't attend but rather chose to go home at the tea interval as nothing much was happening.

                      Chelmsford 1983. I missed ten wickets and a team score of 14 (fourteen):

                      https://www.espncricinfo.com/series/...full-scorecard

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                        #12
                        York 3 Everton 2 (and for that matter Everton 1 York 1 a fortnight earlier)

                        I don't think I'd been to a game at that point that season (was having a bit of a funny time of things at the time and had slightly fallen out of love with going to City) and didn't feel it was right to just pitch up for the big game(s). Instead I accepted an offer of going with a school friend (who I think I fancied if I'm honest - undoubtedly one of the issues I was wrestling with) that night to the 2nd leg Darlo v Leeds, which from memory was pretty much a forgone conclusion after the 1st leg. So, I retained my fairly pointless principles but missed probably the best (on-the-day) victory at Bootham Crescent since the 1980s.

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                          #13
                          I had to give Orient’s Div 4 promotion game at Oxford in 2006 a miss due to a family wedding, and always regretted not being there for a rare explosion of mass celebration for O’s fans.

                          Oxford fans haven’t quite forgiven us for the promotion party scenes at their ground, as the last minute 2-3 loss consigned them to Conference relegation.

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                            #14
                            I've said on here before that, living in Middlesbrough in 1966, I wished I'd pestered my father into taking me to a World Cup game at Ayresome Park. I didn't, I've never seen a World Cup match since and I doubt I ever will.

                            It's funny how you recall things. I remember that Villa v Wimbledon game, not because I was there or not there. I'd gone with a mate to Woking to see an FA Trophy game v Cheltenham Town. There was a lot of rain that afternoon and, as we sat in the pub before the game, someone from the club came in to say that it was off. Nice of the club, but the pub wasn't the greatest so we decided to go elsewhere. We ended up in Wimbledon and watched the results on TV. I had two Wimbledon defenders in my Fantasy League team and that result effectively ended any chance I had of winning that season.

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                              #15
                              A straightforward case of not being arsed meant I didn't go to Wednesday v West Ham just before Christmas 1993. Not only did we win 5-0, but Chris Waddle absolutely ran the show and tore David Burrows a new one. To this day it's still referred to as "the Chris Waddle game".

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                                #16
                                Was offered a free ticket to Spurs/Chelsea in 2008, but turned it down as it was in the away end. The game was a 4-4 classic.

                                But, the away end. Did that once before - never again.

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                                  #17
                                  Originally posted by slackster View Post
                                  I had to give Orient’s Div 4 promotion game at Oxford in 2006 a miss due to a family wedding, and always regretted not being there for a rare explosion of mass celebration for O’s fans.

                                  Oxford fans haven’t quite forgiven us for the promotion party scenes at their ground, as the last minute 2-3 loss consigned them to Conference relegation.
                                  I was at that game, and beforehand an Oxford United supporter offered 200 quid for my two tickets. I declined and watched the match, and it was very exciting. It it happened again though I think I would take the money !

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                                    #18
                                    When I was at university in Exeter, I would quite often go to watch City. In October 1993, I went to see them play Reading. It was quite a game. Reading led 4-1 at half-time, but City came back to level it up at 4-4, before Reading pulled away again to win 6-4.

                                    A few weeks later, Exeter had an evening game at home to Fulham and I was struggling to decide whether to go. Eventually, I opted not to bother, justifying my decision on the grounds that it couldn't possibly be as good as the last game I went to. City won 6-4.

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                                      #19
                                      Derby 2 Burnley 0, FA Cup Fourth Round replay, second attempt.

                                      I'd been to the fogged off first crack at this game and the weather was too bad - or so I thought - to have a go at getting to the rearranged match. Most of the other matches were also postponed, which meant we had a lot of coverage and despite the defeat, it was written about quite evocatively as Clarets fans chanting continuously for the team as they went down to defeat.

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                                        #20
                                        Both Yeovil 1 City 2 and City 3 Bristol Rovers 0 at the end of the 03/04 season, when we got promoted. The other half had booked 2 weeks in Los Gigantes and like an idiot I never checked the dates.

                                        Also our European trips to Trencin and Lokeren in 2014. Tickets for 2 Wembley trips and subsequent train journeys had left me skint at the end of 13/14, so I gambled on saving money to renew my passport and go to a group stage game, only for Steve Bruce to prioritise a point against Stoke over progression in the Europa League, and subsequently we went out through playing a weakened side in the first leg of the second qualifying round in Belgium. I've still never forgiven him for that.

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                                          #21
                                          Despite being an Oxford fan and seeing us drop out of the league, the Oxford - Orient game was one of the best football-watching experiences of my life. It was just the outcome at the end that was all wrong.

                                          The one I missed and regret was the 1986 Milk Cup Final.

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                                            #22
                                            Originally posted by San Bernardhinault View Post
                                            Despite being an Oxford fan and seeing us drop out of the league, the Oxford - Orient game was one of the best football-watching experiences of my life. It was just the outcome at the end that was all wrong.

                                            The one I missed and regret was the 1986 Milk Cup Final.
                                            With both sides playing with 1-1-8 formations in search of the winning goal at the end it was certainly entertaining !

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                                              #23
                                              Thought of another one. My dad went to Wrexham V Arsenal in January 1992. I'm not sure if he couldn't get tickets for me and my brother or if we were just contrary and decided not to go.

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                                                #24
                                                A visiting OTFer who was crashing at our place had a spare ticket for the 2010 World Cup quarter-final between Germany and Argentina. Since he had only one spare ticket, I wasn't going to buy it off him because that meant I wouldn't go without my son. I'm still glad that I abided by that principle -- the World Cup was an entirely shared experience between us -- but it means that I missed seeing Benedikt Hoewede's Germany beating Lionel Messi's Argentina 4-0.

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                                                  #25
                                                  Aberdeen 2:1 Real Madrid, European Cup Winners Cup Final, 11th May 1983. I’d been to all the home legs, including the win against Bayern Munich. I was 19, a student, had a significant overdraft and couldn’t afford to go to the final in Gothenburg. Always regretted it. Also saw the home leg on the Super Cup. 2-0 win v Hamburg, after 0-0 draw in Germany.

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