I rushed back into the room and dashed back to Table Number 1, just at the point where they were about to announce the award for ‘Best Football Club Content Creator’. The ‘fans’ award went to Palmers FC. Never mind, surely the judges will have chosen the Stacey West blog as their winner, even if it hasn’t won the award that the fans vote for.
So the announcement was made and I had my mobile phone in front of me, ready to read out Gary’s acceptance speech.
“And ladies and gentlemen the winner is … City Watch”. GROAN!!! This (not very good) Manchester City website had won the award that really should have gone to the Stacey West blog.
What a downer. I was absolutely convinced that Gary was going to win one of the awards, and I had also just found out that the Imps had conceded another goal at Exeter. A few hours earlier I would have bet my house on there being TWO Lincoln City victories that night, and it was now looking like there wouldn’t be any.
And so on to the ‘celebrity’ speaker. I spied a very overweight ugly bearded man take to the stage. I had actually been stood next to him earlier in the evening chatting with a group of people in quite an obnoxious manner along the lines of “yeah I make a fortune doing after-dinner speaking these days.”
I recognised him immediately. It was the controversial former Talk Sport presenter Garry Bushell, although he looked a lot older than I remembered him, and he had put on a LOT of weight.
So the host for the evening introduces him. “Ladies and gentlemen please welcome … Neil ‘Razor’ Ruddock.” WHAT?!?!? I was convinced this was a very fat and ageing Garry Bushell, not Neil Ruddock. I couldn’t believe how much Neil Ruddock had let himself go. The poor man. The thought struck me that when I am as old as him, I really hope I will not look as bad as that myself. (Incidentally, when I got back home to Leeds I did a Google search on Neil Ruddock and discovered that he’s actually 3 years younger than me!!)
Ruddock seemed incapable of making a proper speech, so instead the host just asked him a few questions about his life, football, etc. He very ungraciously didn’t say anything at all about blogging – for example congratulating the award nominees. No, he was going to make it just all about HIM.
He attempted to get a few cheap laughs by saying some controversial things about the England team going to Russia. I particularly took exception to his nasty comment about Joe Hart who had just discovered he would not be going to the World Cup finals. Considering that Hart was such a great servant to England (Ruddock only ever played for England once in a friendly) I think he would have been well-advised to have kept his mouth shut. Perhaps being controversial is what it takes to get lucrative after-dinner speaking gigs.
It seems to me completely outrageous that some people can make thousands of pounds just by turning up at a dinner, drinking as much free alcohol as possible, and then answering a few questions from the host. Maybe the real Garry Bushell would have been a better choice!!
And so to the end of the evening with some final awards, followed by the big one – ‘the Best Overall Football Content Creator’ – which is the top prize awarded by the judges. The award went to Arsenal Fan TV, leading to a quite bizarre bout of heckling from the man sitting just to my left on our table.
To be fair, he had consumed far too much free alcohol. But that doesn’t excuse abuse which was bordering on racist, along the lines of: “How can he win when he can’t even speak proper English?” (repeated loudly several times). I think it was just a case of sour grapes by the guy sat on my table, and I’m pretty sure this person was a Chelsea blogger, so that probably explains it!! (And don’t worry readers, he didn’t win anything himself).
The highlight of the evening for me was seeing the two lovely chaps sat next to me (a father and son) win the award for ‘Best Football Podcast’. They produce the Celtic Star Podcast and they had come down to London from Glasgow that day, with the intention of taking the sleeper train back up from Euston to Glasgow straight after the awards had finished. No overnight hotel for them. Just Glasgow to London and back again in the same day, without sleep. Now that is real devotion for you.
All in all, a very enjoyable, and at times bizarre, evening. My biggest disappointment was obviously that the Stacey West blog didn’t win an award. But I am absolutely convinced that the blog will win one of these awards in the future. In fact, it’s probably just as well that Gary Hutchinson couldn’t make it to the event this time, as it means he will now be able to go along in the future to pick up the award himself in person.
And to round off the evening, a long walk back to the underground station (thankfully downhill all the way) and the chance to buy a much-needed pack of vegetarian digestive biscuits from the Wood Green branch of Sainsbury’s.
Oh, and also a quick look at my phone to check the Imps final score at Exeter. GROAN!!!
FULL LIST OF WINNERS
The Stadia Solutions Best International Football Blog Fans’ Award – Euro Football Daily
The Stadia Solutions Best International Football Blog Fans’ Award – MLShocker
The 5p0rtz Best Gambling Football Blog Fans’ Award – Betway
The 5p0rtz Best Gambling Football Blog Judges’ Award – We Love Betting
The NewsNow Best Young Football Blogger or Vlogger Fans’ Award – Tekkerz kid
The NewsNow Best Young Football Blogger or Vlogger Judges’ Award – Matchday with Max
Gininet Best New Football Blog Fans’ Award – AnfieldEdition
Gininet Best New Football Blog Judges’ Award – AnfieldEdition
The Snack Gaming Best Gaming Football Content Creator Fans’ Award – Miniminter
The Snack Gaming Best Gaming Football Content Creator Judges’ Award – Spencer FC
Great Branding Company Best Football Club Content Creator Fans’ Award – PalmersFC
Great Branding Company Best Football Club Content Creator Judges’ Award – City_Watch
The Digital Sport Best Football Podcast Fans’ Award – Arsenal Vision Podcast
The Digital Sport Best Football Podcast Judges’ Award – Celtic Star Podcast
The Panini Best Social Football Account Fans’ Award – 433
The Panini Best Social Football Account Judges’ Award – DeludedBrendan
The Jamvid Best Football Video Creator Fans’ Award – 442oons
The Jamvid Best Football Video Creator Judges’ Award – COPA 90
The Sky Sports Best Football Influencer Fans’ Award – F2 Freestylers
The Sky Sports Best Football Influencer Judges’ Award – Amy Christophers
The Snack Media Award for Best Overall Football Content Creator – ArsenalFanTV
Thanks Darren. I’d like to thank everyone who voted for me and has helped me get the blog to the finals for two years in a row. Congratulations to all the winners and to all those following smaller clubs who were nominated. I know Palmers FC won, a rather unusual Sunday League cult, but I shared the top ten with Salford and Scunthorpe, testament to the quality of creators not only in the upper echelons covering the big stories, but also the likes of us.
I’d like to thank the organisers too, I know I couldn’t make the awards but the team helped immensely in the run up even giving me the option of recording a speech ‘incase’ I won. I suspect recording an acceptance speech for an award I didn’t win would rank amongst the most soul destroying things I’d ever done, so I opted just to write one instead. Seriously though, thanks to the people who work terribly hard to ensure people such as me and other bloggers, vloggers and internet entertainers get our night of recognition.
You had back surgery Garry Kept that one to yourself!