After a scheduled second trip to Buenos Aires was canceled (by me) due to having a slight feeling of being financially exploited by my last host and friend, I decided to use the flight credit to fly home to the UK, see family and friends and freeze to death at some January football.
Two trips to the Mecca of football, Edgeley Park, Stockport. Routine wins over League One cannon fodder Crawley Town and Shrewsbury Town saw County planted firmly in the promotion race.
A Europa League “battle of Britain” between Man United and Rangers was also taken in. An enjoyable evening of angry but mostly well behaved (from what I saw) Scots popping up all over Old Trafford when they scored.
Maybe there was time for one more game before heading to London for three in four days.
I scoured the European calendar looking for somewhere appealing that I haven’t been before and landed on Munich to see a Champions League game between Bayern and Slovan Bratislava.
The Marienplatz seemed to be the main square with its picturesque New Town Hall. The usual bustle of tourists clamouring for the best angle for their selfies and family pictures were joined in the crisp Bavarian winter sunshine by a large group of Slovan Ultras, all dressed in black and taking up multiple tables of an outside cafe. They seemed to be behaving themselves but I didn’t see many police around if they didn’t.
I made the short and straightforward metro trip to the Allianz Arena which has a large desolate path leading up to it from the station. The imposing shadow of a giant shiny new stadium comes into view and the food trucks and mechanise stalls hum with business.
I bought a ticket as close to the Sud Kurve as I could get without actually standing on it. The concourse of the stadium had a modern feel to it, similar to NFL stadiums with an open plan with various vantage points to stand and take it all in with a Bratwurst or enormous pretzel. And of course large beers in plastic beakers.
The stadium was full to the brim as I’m sure it is for every match. The Bratislava fans had travelled in huge numbers and were making somewhat of a disappointing light mumor in one corner. The Bayern hardcore took up the end I was at and although colourful with their scarf waving and typical giant flags, were quieter than the other five German experiences I have had over the last two seasons. I kind of expected this. They don’t exactly have the same reputation as a Dortmund or Hamburg and there was no pyro which everyone knows means no party.
The game itself was almost like a training session. Bayern ended up with 75% possession and a 3-1 win with goals from Thomas Muller, Harry Kane and Kingsley Conan. The Slovan goal was a consolation in injury time.
The next day I flew midday to Heathrow and after checking in to a hotel near Tower Bridge, I headed to the new Tottenham Hotspur stadium for their Europa League game against the Swedish side Elfsborg. Signal failures and train delays put the busy rush hour commuter crowd into a frenzy. I could see Spurs fans moving in different directions at different tube stations, frantically checking their phones for an alternate route. I asked one fella at Liverpool St, who I had heard mention Tottenham on his phone call, if he could tell me the quickest way and he said “You going the game mate? Well aren’t you a lucky f*cker, everything’s f*cked!” I ended up in an Uber and only missed the first five minutes.
What a magnificent stadium this is. Beautifully designed with the curves and the large end behind one end with the golden cockerel perched above it. Lots of leg room and nice amenities I can see why they have NFL games here sometimes. A very modern feel and great acoustics when the crowd got going.
Unfortunately the crowd didn’t get going much but it was a Thursday night in the Europa League coupled with Spurs 15th in the Premier League and their coach Ange Postecoglou under increasing pressure, there was somewhat of a tension in the air.
The game was very similar to the night before. The opposition barely got out of their own half and I spent a lot of the game watching the travelling fans brightly dressed in their teams yellow, caring not one bit and instead bouncing up and down and waving their scarves in unison.
Tottenham took longer than Bayern to impose their domination and three goals from academy products, Dane Scarlett, Damola Ajayi and Mickey Moore - all their first goals for the club - sent the Spurs fans into the streets with a spring in their step. Nothing like the feeling of “one of your own” winning a game, never mind three.
Friday was mostly a day of rest and recharging before meeting up with my Mum and sister on Saturday morning and taking in the delights of Borough Market. I then headed off to Leyton in East London to the away end of Brisbane Road where Leyton Orient and Stockport County battled it out in 6th and 5th in League One respectively.
Brisbane Rd is a nice traditional football ground with easy access and decent amenities. The away end was situated on one side near the more vocal home fans which provided a good atmosphere.
I always fancied County in this one for some reason, despite Orient being the form team in the division. The mighty County completely dominated the first half and a 1-0 lead through Kyle Wooton should have been a lot more at the break.
Orient didn’t offer much more in the second half and County sealed three points, moving up to fourth and leaving me with three wins and no goals conceded for my trip. Lovely.
We did a bit of sight seeing on Sunday morning. London grew on me this trip. It really is a great city and I definitely have more football stadia to check off in the capital in the coming seasons.
Sunday afternoon saw a trek across to the far west of London to Brentford to take in their Premier League game with Tottenham.
The new Gtech stadium is hard to photograph from the outside as it is surrounded in very close quarters by apartments, offices and a train track. It almost seems like they dropped it in from a great height in the smallest spot possible.
Brentford have a very friendly, family oriented vibe about them and it’s hard to imagine any trouble ever occurring. They fit nicely into their modest but modern home and are an example to any team of their size on how to sustain themselves in the top flight for many years.
The game itself was a bad one for the home fans. The Bees created very little and Tottenham, whose travelling fans were a lot louder than they were at home three nights earlier, cruised to a 2-0 win with a goal in each half. After all Spurs’ problems this season I had now seen them win twice in four days without conceding a goal.
I left a few minutes early to beat the rush but was very impressed with Brentford as a club and a fan base.
Time to reflect on another great trip, precious time with family and friends and some more brilliant football experiences.
A couple of short videos on my experiences in Munich and London, accompanied by great music as always, can be found below;
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