As you cope with a season of gloom and defeat, perhaps the simple act of giving a Valentines card could cheer you up.

Valentines Day may just be a day created by business to sell cards and gifts but has proven to be a masterstroke and for many a very positive thing. For those who receive nothing it will be a miserable time that only rubs salt into their lonely wounds.

For Derby fans perhaps you can relieve the pain of a tough return to the Premiership by printing out a copy of the table as it stood after the first game and send it to yourself as a reminder that love and hope did once exist in your life.

The other option is to think of those less fortunate than your self. Poor old F%$#*t, Leicester & Leeds fans who if don’t get any valentines loving may just be reaching for a length of rope come the end of February 14th. With the Foxes struggling at the bottom of the Championship while Forrest and Leeds both looking like blowing a promising start to the season only to find themselves in league one again next season.

When discussing Valentines with a friend the other day she said she always sends a card to someone she thinks will appreciate it and perhaps not get one otherwise. I at first thought this is a form of pity and could be seen by the receiver as unwanted sympathy. She insisted that it is just one of those nice “friendship” ones that cannot (hopefully) be mistaken for anything else. After my initial concerns I decided it was a fabulous idea, so perhaps we all could send one to a long suffering opposition fan who is grimly coming to terms with reality. Whoever you send one to, you can sleep well in the knowledge that you have done a good deed and given something for that person to smile about.

This of course can work both ways. If you decide that the suffering fellow football fan does not deserve cheering up then perhaps print their division table, neatly highlight their team and send it in a card with the neatly written message along the lines of “love has its ups and downs but for you… mainly downs” or “love isn’t always easy”. You may find this immature behavior mean, if so you would be correct but it’s so much fun!!

For those of you lucky enough to receive a genuine valentine then you are the REALLY lucky ones. There is someone out there who loves you or at least lusts after you. That said, with us getting to take a breather from our underwhelming season, perhaps you should use the break to take your Valentine out for a meal or a movie or both. If you do then you are likely to find that you are in fact a winner come Saturday night for the first time in a long time.

Have a happy Valentines Day!!

Photo: Action Images

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