United We Fall

Clive and his best friend Ed sit at a pub table following the final football match of the season that seals the relegation fate of Clive’s beloved United. It seems like nothing can lighten his desperate mood – not even a pint of bitter. He sits bemoaning the fact that his team won’t be playing in the Premier League the following season. And how the rest of his awful life depends on the success of his team. Even the thought of his new, young girlfriend, who has replaced his wife of three years, can’t improve his mood. Ed tries to lighten the mood with his gentle banter, but Clive is in no mood for levity. Clive’s anger at his team’s performance and the lack of direction from the manager, who he expects to move on with immediate effect, quickly changes to melancholy and anguish as the future, albeit, possibly for one season, looks very bleak. When finally, it is time for the friends to leave, they walk together to the door. Once open, the sight of Clive’s gleaming, white Rolls Royce Corniche does little to improve his disposition. Clive admits that he’d swap his car, houses and even his new, beautiful girlfriend, amongst other worldly possessions, for United to spend another season in the top division. An exasperated Ed says goodbye and heads for the bus stop, and Clive walks forlornly to his prestige car as the pub doors close.