I'M WAITING at the crossroads, like I've been told to do, and now it's way past midnight. Suddenly a man dressed in an old Socceroos kit appears out of the mist, juggling a football between his feet.
"Gaz," he says, "You've been talking it up a bit lately. A bit too much, maybe."
I look more closely at this stranger. With his shock of dark hair he looks like a youthful Kevin Keegan. But his weathered skin and wry smile seem even more familiar. Is this the ghost of Johhny Warren?
"Well, OK," I reply. "Maybe a little bit, sometimes. But I did it all for the good of the game, I swear!"
"For your sins I want you to accurately predict the outcome of this A-League season. If you are right, you'll earn the respect of the Australian footballing public. But if you are wrong, you'll have to quit blogging."
"What?" I reply, "I thought it was only the devil who made bargains like that?"
"Football has it's own version of the blues, mate," he said. "And it's got nothing to do with Chelsea."
"OK, here's what I think... Gold Coast, Perth, Melbourne and maybe Newcastle will be the top four."
"The Jets? Are you kidding me?"
"Never underestimate the underdogs, Johnny. These guys have a point to prove."
"Yeah, fair enough."
"Gold Coast to win the league."
"Undefeated?"
"Who cares?"
"Good answer. What about the Grand Final?"
"Tough call. Could go to penalties. Gold Coast just narrowly over Perth, I hope."
"Why?"
"Well, these teams have done the best recruiting. Hopefully they'll have some Socceroo players starring at the World Cup in 2010, which will be great for the A-League. And hopefully other clubs will follow their lead next season."
"Fair call. So how are the pre-season games going anyway? Sorry, but I've been trapped outside the space-time continuum. It gets a bit confusing sometimes."
"Well," I said, "Gold Coast recently beat Fulham 2-1."
"Seriously?"
"Yeah, seriously."
"Wow. So does Clive Palmer still think he can go through the season undefeated?"
"I don't know. But we don't need to talk like that any more. We've got bragging rights under our belts now. We can pretend to be humble."
"Hmmn. I'll believe it when I see it. So how are the other teams going?"
"Well, Roar played well against Celtic in front of over 30,000 fans.
And Melbourne and Perth have also done very well against visiting EPL teams."
"Seriously? Wow. The A-League is really coming along, isn't it?"
"Like you didn't know it would happen, Johnny."
"Well, yeah. But I might possibly have talked up our chances a little bit, maybe, sometimes. All for the good of the game, of course!"
And then, with a wink, he was gone.
I staggered back home in the pre-dawn darkness, and I got to thinking.
Surely, if Johnny was outside the space-time continuum, he would already know the pre-season results as well as the coming A-League season's outcome? Surely he would know where Australian football is heading for the next 100 years?!
Hmmn. So what if that wasn't really Johnny Warren? What if I just got tricked by that "li'l ole funny boy"?
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There's been a mini-explosion of activity around the Gold Coast Supporters group, who even have a Facebook page now. Next meeting is at the Dog and Parrot Inn on Monday August 3 at 7pm. For details, see http://www.gcusc.com/
If you want to be in the Home Bay for the Mariners match this Saturday, ring Ticketek and ask for Section 2.
