Would You Rather…?
I was in court on Wednesday.
Not totally by choice. I’d been hit whilst driving on the M6 by a lorry that transported milk and that had veered into my lane. At the scene the driver admitted he hadn’t seen me but later – for reasons not entirely clear – changed his account and said it was all my fault.
I’d say he had a “lotta bottle”, but I think I’d be about forty years too late. He did, however, ensure that what looked like an open and shut case dragged on for more than a year and ended up in front of a judge. And his verdict was exactly as the driver had said at the start…he didn’t see me. I won the case, plus costs, but lost a lot of time – not to mention sleep – because of it.
My beloved Walsall Football Club even, inadvertently, played a part in the case and helped my cause.
Let’s just say I’ll never moan about that massive adverting board again.
Just before the hearing, my barrister said the other party had offered – again - to go 50/50 (something I’d rejected a month earlier). It would mean admitting half of the responsibility for the ‘accident’ in order to not have to stand up and give evidence, be cross-examined and leave it in the hands of the judiciary.
Would you rather have all the stress, hassle and risk or just be thought of as a bad driver?
I opted for the former. Thankfully, with the benefit of hindsight. Or with it now being in my rear-view mirror.
Too soon?
That was my choice. I had agency. I did sense my barrister was subtly pushing me towards the other option in case it all went South. But then, she wouldn’t have had to pay my insurance premiums.
I’ve always preferred my ‘would you rather?’ questions to have less riding on them; like the one’s Maggie asks in BBC’s Extras.
‘Would you rather be you, with your face and your legs but the brain of a chimpanzee, or would rather be a chimpanzee, but with your brain?’
It’s still not easy. But you almost won’t certainly get to find out if you made the right choice.
Concentrate on the league
And we’ve reached that time of the year where ‘would you rather?’ gets asked of a lot of football fans.
The typical question is something like this. ‘Would you rather win the FA Cup and get relegated, or not win it but stay in the Premier League?’
That was asked of Leeds United fans last week. The obvious answer is neither. A fan would rather win the FA Cup and stay in the Premier League. But they don’t have agency; they have no choice in it at all.
The question is also asked of the club too.
For instance, should Leeds they have prioritised Premier League survival by playing a full-strength team at Bournemouth a few days before their first FA Cup semi-final in almost 40 years, or should they focus on the game against Chelsea more, given it’s a very rare opportunity to get to a final and win a major trophy; something they’ve not done since 1992.
Even then, that suggests that the club have a choice. But the opposition have a pretty big part to play, and the results show the folly of trying to decide which game to prioritise. Leeds would have struggled to beat the in-form Cherries with their best XI (they equalised late to draw 2-2) while they lost to a Chelsea team that – before then – you’d have backed their reserves to beat.
Yet ‘would you rather?’ questions are put before fans and clubs more and more every season.
Last year Spurs were able to say they’d rather win the Europa League than focus on the Premier League, as were Crystal Palace with the FA Cup. But they were largely able to do so because the Premier League’s bottom three were firmly established by February.
With the trap door being closed early for a season, it rendered relegation a moot point. Not this time. So:
Would Aston Villa rather win the Europa League or finish in the top five?
Would Forest rather win the Europa League or stay in the Premier League?
Would Arsenal rather win the Champions League or the Premier League?
Villa and Forest are trying to prove you can do both. Arsenal may be trying to prove you can do neither.
The question is really, from a fan’s perspective anyway, often about whether they’d rather have the glory of a trophy win, or the security of securing their league status.
I sense this is where the answers differ depending on who is answering. A club’s hierarchy might value the league (and the money) far more than the fan who would rather just seem them win something.
We're possibly on the way to Wembley
I remember thinking the same way this time last year.
Walsall, having lost a big points lead, faced a last day where they could still go up automatically - albeit sheepishly - with a win at Crewe, or else find themselves in the play offs. Of course, as usual, it wasn’t up to the club or the fans and, as it happened, Bradford City’s last-gasp winner made the choice for us.
But I’d already asked myself the question.
Would I rather go up on the last day, or take my chances via the play-offs?
It seems easy on the surface, and even more so with hindsight. You take the automatic route. Don’t you?
But consider the alternative, even with hindsight. The two play-off legs against Chesterfield were amongst my favourite games in recent memory. They were played in sold-out stadiums, in lovely weather, with a fantastic highly-charged atmosphere and were full of moments I’ll always cherish.
The final ended in disappointment, yes. But it represented a chance of glory. For a team that’s only been to Wembley twice in its long history, and who have won the odd lower league title, a few promotions and two play-off finals (sadly, neither of them at Wembley) then these moments of glory really are few and far between.
So the question is really – would I rather just have the chance of seeing my team win at Wembley?
And I realised I would. It was worth it, even in defeat, because it could have gone the other way. Que sera. But you have to be in it to win it.
Last week, we also saw the next shocking step in the fall of Leicester City. Ten years after winning the Premier League, they slipped into League One again after beginning their incredible journey from that league in the 2008/09 season.
And what a journey! Not only the 5,000-1 title win, but also the Great Escape before it, the FA Cup win after it, and a run to the quarter-finals of the Champions League and a graceful exit against Atletico Madrid. Imagine the moments fans have had in that lot.
Ask their fans if they’d rather trade the escape, the PL title, the FA Cup and the Champions League for 15 years of mid-table PL mediocrity.
Of if they’d rather take successive relegations down to League One, if it meant keeping all of those other moments?
It’d be the second one. All. Day. Long.
Better to have loved and lost, than never to have loved at all.
If we’ve learned anything this week it’s that.
Oh, and you shouldn’t cry over spilt milk. ; )
Still too soon?
