Cardiff City 2-2 Derby County

It was dark when I left at 7.30am. But the early start gave me a record journey time of 3 hours 36 minutes on the A470. Nothing much on the road, and there is still no sign that anybody lives in Commins Coch. I now look forward to Christmas, and to finding out whether the good citizens of Clatter will once again totally disregard the traditional display of festive decorations. Is Clatter a Satanic enclave ? It certainly feels like it sometimes.

By mid-day I had spent a fortune in the club shop. This was the first time in 6 years that I have been able to buy anything with Hammam's badge on it. Until now, it has been the old skool Bluebird, Dragon and Daffodils for me.

I felt liberated. Hammam is gone, and I'm proud to be a City fan once again.Hammam's vulgarity turned my club into a circus sideshow for "crazy bastards". Dignity's in short supply in football, but Ninian Park's boardroom has been bereft recently, of humility, propriety, and class. Let's hope that Peter Ridsdale keeps his head down, stays off the pitch, and doesn't do the Ayatollah.

Some City fans think that it's a case of out of the frying pan..., but we've had bad Chairman before. It goes with the deal. Tony Clemo, Jim Cadman, and even the mad Ukranian, Stefan Terlezki were all targets for campaigns and protests. But generally, you could ignore them. That's how it should be with Chairmen.

As for Saturday, credit goes to Ali for ignoring the Directors Box, and the ovation was fair enough. Plenty of people liked the old goat, and they're welcome to applaud. But to say that it was emotional is over-egging it. In my part of the ground, the Canton Stand, people weren't even sure what it was all about. We thought that Lewin Nyatanga had been spotted.

It has been a criticism recently on the battle ground of the messageboards that some of us were happy with 2,000 crowds and a rubbish team. Well I think that's obvious, otherwise we wouldn't have gone. It doesn't mean we don't enjoy the big occasion, but believe me, there is just as much satisfaction to be gained out of beating Plymouth 5-4 in front of a few thousand as there is at The Emirates for a 1-1 draw with Everton.

There have been comments in the media recently that Cardiff is a "proper" club with a "proper" ground. I know what they mean. Liverpool's second goal against Villa on Saturday was celebrated with a "yayyy". Not a "Waarggh, or a Yaarrggh", but a "Yayyy". That is not a proper celebration. That is a lazy, overfed, gout suffering, souffle of a cheer. If that's what a new stadium will bring, you can keep it.

Derby fans celebrated properly on Saturday. They jumped around, made crazy unplanned dashes across the terracing and generally went mental. Fair play to them. If you watch the highlights, Cardiff fans are already streaming out of the ground. Top of the League, 2-1 up, and under pressure deep into injury time. And thousands were leaving the ground. Comment is unnecessary.

This is the best City team I have ever seen. The result is just a statistic caused by the ball being round and happening to cross a white line a couple of times. Derby should already have been withdrawn to their corner. I don't mind drawing games like that. We are magnificent.

I was in my local by 10pm, and did that thing that all fans do when they arrive back at their pub after an away game. I took the match programme in and laid it out casually on the bar, face up, so that everyone would know that I'd just travelled 8 hours to watch a football match. But I make no apologies for that. I am proud again to be a City fan.