On Saturday 18th August 2012, I tragically and horrifically lost one of my best mates; Kyle Broadbent, he was only 25.
In the summer of 2009 after finishing three years of education in Sheffield, I moved back in with my parents to the oddest town you will ever go to; Milton Keynes. The University fairy tale being over didn't seem too bad, because at least it meant that I got the chance to have my dinner cooked for me again (cheers Mum) I'd get a lift to the match every week (cheers Dad) and I got to spend more time with my mate Ed. We'd known each other since 2001 and had been really close friends over that time, playing in bands together and experiencing the highs (for him) and lows (for me) of being a football fan. There's not a lot of people that you will find these parts that has their team running in their blood, and even though we may support different clubs, we've always had a bond because we're very similar in our passion for our teams. We would argue til we were blue in the face (there's a pun there) against those of a red persuasion.
It was about September 2009 when an old friend of ours called Jason asked us to come out for a drink at a Weatherspoons up the city center. Me and Ed, being piss-artists didn't take much persuasion. It was then that we met one of Jason's mates from work - Kyle. Straight away, we knew that we were talking to one of our own. It was strange really. He was as hardcore a Chelsea fan that you could ever meet, just like Ed is, yet their paths never seem to cross. Further to this, when talking about "so where do you live?" etc., we found out that Ed and Kyle literally lived a stones throw away from each other for years of their childhood, yet again their paths never crossed. Pretty odd, similarly to my partner in crime at City Felix sitting within ten seats of each other in the Kippax, yet not meeting each other for another five and a half years after that famous stand was knocked down.
From then on, we would tend to go out for drink every once so often on a Friday night. Kyle and Ed started going to games together and travelling to European games together. It was really incredible how effortlessly Kyle fitted in with me and Ed. Especially for those that have met me and Ed at the same time, you'll know that we're quite hard to impress (one might refer to us as 'miserable bastards').
I would have called him a good mate anyway by this point, but our friendship got taken up a few levels in the spring and summer months of 2010. One day and one holiday stand out like a sore thumb. On the last game of the season in 2009/10, City were away to West Ham and Chelsea were at home to Wigan, knowing that a win would ensure them of being English champions for the fourth time. It was a Sunday, and we thought as both of our teams were in London we should make a day of it. We got the first train from Milton Keynes to Euston that morning, and with me being in no rush to get to Upton Park, I walked with them to SW6. It took awhile, but it made the day memorable.
I remember getting on the train and Kyle pulling out a sausage roll in a moist packet, and a big bottle of Tiger beer. A fantastic combination. The walk itself took about two or three hours, Ed and Kyle bickering on the way about which way was quicker.
This weekend, as it's Chelsea's first weekend home game, we will be doing this walk again in Kyle's memory. It's hard enough looking at these pictures, but seeing things that will remind me of that particular morning will be even more difficult.
We got near the ground and nowhere was open. Clearly they didn't want too many pissed up football fans knocking around at such an early time, but we managed to find an off license which sold us a few cans, and we sat outside the Lillie Langtry near West Brompton waiting for the pub to open. As you would expect, the talk was all about the season that had just gone past. Despite City losing out to Spurs a few nights earlier for the fourth Champions League spot, I knew that bigger things were to come, and I still look back on that season with some great memories. Kyle and Ed were 90 minutes away from the title, and next week they were surely going to complete a double against already relegated Portsmouth in the FA Cup final.
I left them at about 1ish, and did my own thing. The West Ham game didn't really matter to City as we had nothing to play for, but we were all interested to hear how Chelsea got on, as they would prevent United from winning the title. I remember in the second half hearing it was 6-0 or something. After the match I remember trying to climb onto a mini bus with Tom Green and Danny Jackson, trying to convince them to come celebrate Chelsea's title win, but the bus driver wasn't having it. Eventually, I made it back to the Chelsea area and met them outside a pub. It was great seeing Kyle and Ed's faces. We all support our own teams, but you always want your friends to be happy. It was no surprise that Kyle was one of the first people to contact me after we won the league this season, he obviously knew how much it means. The night that followed was absolutely ridiculous. I was in a right state, but from what I can remember, we ended up in the Hotel Ibis near Stamford Bridge. I'd spilled that much beer over me that I had to take my jeans off and I was wearing my 'Some Might Say' flag as some sort of skirt, whilst swigging a bottle of straight Malibu. We were throwing water round everywhere in this hotel room, I can still see Kyle's unmistakable grin as he slowly poured a kettle of (cold) water over Ed's head. We were bouncing around like right knobs until we got thrown out the hotel (sorry Frankie). The rest of the night is a bit of a blur, but it was without one of the funniest, alcohol soaked day out at football I've ever had (and I have quite a few of them!)
Around this time, we made a habit of singing:
For reasons I'm not too sure. But either way, the bizarre story of a clogged mouse clearly having the time of his life in a windmill in (old) Amsterdam was something we loved, as no one else understood it. Not that we did. After awhile we referred to ourselves in honour of this song as the "Dutch Rodents".
In July 2010, the Rodents were heading off on holiday together to the lovely island of Corfu, in the not so lovely resort of Kavos. Before we went away, we thought it would be funny if we got a few Netherlands replica kits with names on the back that represented Dutch footballers and rodents. I went for Overmaus, instead of Overmars. Ed went for Van Der Raaht, instead of Van Der Vaart and Kyle went for Gerbiil, instead of... well I don't know, but we thought it was funny. We went down to our local Sports Direct a week before we went away to buy the shirts and get the printing done, but when we got there we found that the Holland shirts were something like £45, whereas Austria Wein shirts were much cheaper and looked practically the same.
By this time, we acquired two other Rodents (although those lazy bastards never bothered getting their shirts printed on) Felix and his flatmate Shane made the Rodents like a mid-nineties American pop band; a fivesome. However we lacked vocal ability, dance moves, and probably most importantly, looks. So really, we were just five mates on the piss on a Greek island wearing the same shirts.
In the two years that passed since that holiday, Kyle frequently told me that it was the best week of his life. And I would say it too. I've been on a lot of 'lads' holidays, but this one for me was absolutely perfect. Without picking out one stand out moment, I will never forget sitting around the pool all day drinking Smirnoff Ices and Kyle constantly digging at Ed pressuring him into getting another round of drinks in. I will never forget the third night we had there, which was one of the most mental nights out I've ever had. The blurry, tops-off, sweat-patched chaos in the photo beneath is just an extraction from that night.
When thinking about Kyle back then, going away from the memories that will be imprinted on my mind (and liver) forever of nights out, it was really more about sitting around in the day time and having a laugh. By this point, we'd only really been mates for about nine months, and for some people there would be a few uncomfortable silences and times where the conversation would run dry. Not at all with Kyle. Always great company, and a very funny, quick witted sense of humour. I hope some of that humour and great company rubbed off on me because it's one of the most valuable assets a person can have. It's hard to think of more of that holiday off the top of my head, but I'm sure when me, Ed, Felix and Shane all sit down together we'll be able to share a lot more of the greatest memories from the greatest week.
Something which will always live with me is the journey home from the airport. During the holiday Kyle's car had been broken into outside Ed's house and his car stereo stolen. For anyone that knows where Ed lives, they'll know it is one of the safest and nicest roads in MK, and in the few weeks leading up to the holiday Kyle even joked, "so you reckon my car will be alright outside yours?" It was my Dad that had to deliver the bad news when we got back. I remember looking back at him as his face conveyed pure confusion and he said, "are you fucking winding me up?!"
Over the next year there were many times when the three of us would go out in Milton Keynes, making the most of that terrible town. A moment during the 2010/11 season that sticks out with me with Kyle was when we played Chelsea at Stamford Bridge. City were awful that day, and it was a proper sickening result and performance and I left the ground feeling like I just wanted to go home. Ed and Kyle talked me round into staying and we ended up having a great night around Chelsea. I remember being a tad tipsy in The Elm and messing round on the jukebox, and everyone having a good sing song. I'm guessing this picture was taken earlier in the night, as we don't look too bad here:
In the summer of 2011 we ventured to Ibiza. We had some great nights out there, with Felix stealing the show more than once. But probably the time I remember the fondest was again during the day when me, Ed and Kyle sat about at Buddah Bar in San Antonio with Andy and Kat that we had met on holiday. Kyle had an on going joke with Ed that he only wanted to go to that particular bar because they had free Wi-Fi and Ed could check his Bebo account (Ed didn't have a Bebo account).
I look a complete mess in majority of the photos of Ibiza, so the images will be limited! Here's one of me and Kyle on the first night:
I remember having a great time with Kyle in the West End of San Antonio in Tropicana bar too, we spent hours in there that night.
Probably my favourite memory of Kyle out there is seeing him on the morning of the second day. We had no idea where he was, but we saw him walking over to our hotel. "I woke up on a fucking slide!" Something that Kyle found with extreme ease was to fall asleep anywhere at anytime. And he'd left us after the first night out and found himself in a kids playground. He'd falled asleep at the top of a slide. Kyle being Kyle, he didn't just climb off when he woke up, he slid down to the bottom - what a way to start your day! Ibiza 2011 might not have been on the same level as Kavos 2010, but it was still a great week which I'll never forget.
Fast forward a bit to the last few months: we had a day drinking together when City played Chelsea at home. We got the train up together and he said that he really wanted to go back to Kavos this summer, but it would all be dictated by what happens to Chelsea in Europe. We got into Oxford Road and had a bit of a bar crawl. He loved it in Temple Bar, and only just over a week ago when I last saw him he said, "we'll definitely have to go there again" - without doubt I will be going there before the QPR game. We had a great day on that Wednesday, obviously I was more happy with the result, but I think he still enjoyed his day out.
In the months of April and May, both City and Chelsea accomplished things that none of us could believe. In the same way that I know he was happy that we won the league, I was willing them to do the business in Munich. It had nothing to do with wanting the English team to win, it was more that. I needed my two mates to finish off what they had been so close to doing on so many occasions. When Drogba sent the ball to the keepers right to win the Champions League, I knew that it would be the single greatest moment of my two friends life. How could you be anything but ecstatic for them? It saddens me to know that he saved his days holiday for next seasons Champions League, when he'll never see it. And this means that he could have been back with me, Ed, Felix and Shane in Kavos again in June. I know Ed will be writing a lot more about their tales in Europe watching Chelsea in the near future, and no matter who you support, I'm sure it will be worth reading.
And then I go to the last time I saw Kyle. Friday 10th August, just under two weeks ago. Me, Kyle and Ed went out that night, and even thinking about it now, it's strange that we went to places that we wouldn't usually go. It was a really good night actually. We stayed out til about 4ish before getting a kebab and getting a taxi back to Ed's. I spent most of the taxi home speaking in an over the top Scouse accent, talking about Richard Starkey and Paul McCartney to the driver, who I don't think responded to a thing. I was proper pissed, I don't really remember too much of it, but just seeing Ed and Kyle looking at each other in the back of a taxi laughing. As per, we crawled onto Ed's large sofa and watched an episode of The Simpsons, or as Kyle used to say, "watching a bit of Jebediah" . Before long, we were all passed out on the sofa - a re-occurring theme of my life in past few years. I remember hearing a sigh and some movement, which woke me up. The sun had not been out long, and it's rays were struggling to get through the clouds. I looked up and Kyle picked up his car keys from the living room table, I looked at him and he looked at me, I can't remember if a noise was made, I think I just raised my eyebrows, in the universal language of "oh, you're getting off, right, see you later" and then I drifted back into sleep. Little was I to know that this was the last time I would ever look at someone who was more like a brother than a friend. We were supposed to meet up in the morning of the Charity Shield, but he opted to go up with his Dad to the match, which was probably more fitting that his Dad was with him for his last match.
It's difficult to sign off on this blog. I could go on at length about the ifs and whys about what happened last Saturday, but l won't. I don't want to think about how my mates life ended. I want to think about how much I loved him, and how he improved so many peoples lives. It's incredibly overwhelming the amount of people that have got into contact with me over the past few days. He has an incredibly close knit family within the hardcore Chelsea supporters, but people from our holidays, people that he worked with and a lot of my close mates from City all knew what a wonderful bloke Kyle was. My mate Andy is currently working abroad for a week, and him messaging me saying that he got back from work, listened to "Asleep" by The Smiths and shed tears makes me fill my eyes as I'm writing these words.
I will be walking from London Euston to SW6 on Saturday morning wearing my Austria Wein shirt thinking about my mate, my brother, my Rodent. Anyone that ever had the absolute honour of knowing Kyle, it would be fantastic to see you there. He would be giggling his cheeky grin off thinking that we're doing this for him.
I will never forget you mate.
There is a light that never goes out.
Liam
