There’s no other time of the year where football can make you look more foolish than Christmas. Predicting the outcome of matches is a mug's game, as they say. 

Whether you’re playing football or talking about it - as I’ve been doing in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia for the last two weeks - the rough run of games can throw up results that one wouldn’t usually expect.

As a pundit for Astro Supersport - South East Asia’s equivalent to Sky Sports - I’ve been dodging between nailing what might happen and making excuses as to why it didn’t. A perfect example was the Manchester United game against Aston Villa. “United are awful”, I declared at half-time, “Villa haven’t even had to play anywhere near their best. United have no passion, no hunger and no desire.”

Fast forward 45 minutes and United had produced a rousing comeback full of passion, desire and hunger to win the match 3-2. Alas, my prediction at 2-2 uttered in the direction of my equally bemused co-pundit Scott Minto that Rasmus Højlund would score the winner, which came to pass about 20 seconds later, went unaired. Such is life.

I’m very lucky to be able to give my opinion on football. For years I’ve suffered with imposter syndrome. I was a painfully shy kid from a council estate in Hertfordshire that is now invited to fly half way around the world to talk about the Premier League. How the hell did that happen? I don’t know either.

As much as I love doing it, there are times when it can be a tough gig. The time difference in Malaysia meant that the United v Villa game kicked off at 3.30am local time, and we were off air at 7am. The back to back matches that we did between Wolves v Everton and Forest v United began at 10pm and finished at 4am. It’s hard trying to find new words for how bad United are at that time of the morning.

But, like any decent team, Scott and I pulled each other through, aided by the ever classy ex-Spurs and England midfielder, Gary Stevens - who we like to tease was only 50 yards away from swapping shirts with Diego Maradona after the 1986 World Cup quarter-final and, if he had, he would now be £7.5m better off!

The humour tends to get darker at that time of the morning.

Before boarding the plane home I checked the fixtures. Reading v Exeter. ‘Tough game’, I thought. I saw Exeter earlier in the season at Wycombe and they were excellent. But at this time of year, travelling a long way from home after a tough run of games, I fancied Reading to sneak it. 

14 hours later I turned my phone on at Heathrow. Final score: Reading 3 Exeter 2.

Who knows, maybe 2024 will be lucky for all of us!

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A Reading win was something we got used to as players back in the 106 season - and if you are feeling nostalgic about those days, you might be interested in the following.

I've teamed up with Glen Dinning, who runs the fantastic Blue Collar Corner in Reading town centre, for a series of events this month - which will see Leroy Lita, Glen Little and I reminiscing about that magnificent season and the club's first-ever season in the Premier League. 

We'll also be discussing the current Reading team and the club's ownership - and answering questions from the audience.

In his wisdom, Glen D has decided I should go first and, on the basis that I can't interview myself, I have asked Mark Roach - who previously welcomed Leroy and Glen L as guests on the 1871 podcast that he hosted, and is now helping me run The Dave Kitson Academy - to put me in the Blue Collar Corner spotlight on Sunday January 14th.

At this stage, I have no idea what Mark - or anyone in the audience - will ask me!

Feel free to come along and ask me a question.

Then, on Sunday January 21st, I will be back at Blue Collar Corner, where I will be putting the questions to one of my former strike partners from the 106 season. I haven't decided what I will ask Leroy yet, but I am looking forward to reliving that record-breaking season with him - and again, the audience will get a chance to ask Leroy some questions.

It will be a hat-trick of appearances at Blue Collar for me on Sunday, January 28th, when I will be putting the questions again to another fans favourite. It's a good job I'm asking Glen Little the questions and not the other way around - as well as being known as a great dribbler, Glen is also known as a great talker. 

He was certainly entertaining on the pitch and I'm sure it will be no different when we focus on his memories of an incredible period in the club's history. 

Doors open at 5pm for all 3 events and if you are interested in coming along on one or more of the dates, you can buy tickets via Blue Collar Corner's social media platforms or click on the following link: https://www.skiddle.com/g/106recordbreakers/