Where are you going?

Visited a uni friend in Amersham last weekend and stuck for something to do we ended up at the Southern League fixture Chesham v Kettering.

Really nice old school ground, three sides Twerton-esque and the other flat standing with cracking views of the Chiltern Hills behind. The bar put Rovers (and probably most league clubs) to shame with a huge range of global and local beers on tap.

Pretty turgid game, with plenty of hoofball and players falling over. Chesham won 2-0 with two second half goals but Kettering probably looked the better side. For Rovers interest Rene Howe came on for the last 30 for Kettering and seemed a popular figure with the Kettering fans but even at this level looked pretty ineffective.

Decent one to tick off if anyone ever finds themselves in the area.

Right, so last weekend got to Köln around midday and took the train to the city centre then on to Düsseldorf. Got a lovely tram out to the ESPRIT Arena early doors and headed into the ground, beers at €4 a piece and a lovely bit of curry wurst with chips. The ground was frankly huge, and I got to stood on the big lower tier terrace with the Ultras. A good game saw the league leaders Fortuna run out 4-2 winners against Arminia Bielefeld.



After the match I met my friend a Port Vale supporter who lives in the East who came over for some football. We had a fair few beers and then headed back to apartment before a doubleheader the next day. After some breakfast we popped on a train to Monchengladbach, in chilly conditions we popped to a fan bar and watched the Bundelsiga 2 conference before heading on a bus to Borussia Park. The game was a cracker, a 3-3 draw with Hoffenheim. Very cold, plenty of beer, crap atmosphere tbh and a VAR goal. Borrussia Park is a banger though...



We left the match 5 minutes early to try and get the early train to Eindhoven but missed it so ended spending another hour drinking in the fan bar watching highlights of other Bundesliga matches. A short walk to the station and the train the Venlo before changing for Eindhoven. A couple of train beers and a taxi ride later, we were at Philips Stadion. PSV hosted Venlo in a localish Derby. f**k all VVV supporters turned up, probably less than 300 for a 30 mile journey. Philips Stadion was a nice pickle of a ground, we were right up in the corner with not the best view but I can see it's tidy enough. Again the atmosphere was poor but a worthwhile tick as PSV beat VVV 3-0.



A night out in Eindhoven followed with Rangers and Motherwell supporters we met at the game, more beers and more fun before finally getting back to our hotel. A nice lie in on Sunday was followed by a train journey back to Germany for the Rheine Derby between FC Köln and Bayer Leverkusen. Köln had a fantastic season last year and qualified for the Europa League for the first time in 20+ years. This year they've been awful. Leverkusen visited and expecting to win. They were turned over 2-0 by a hard working Köln helped out by a VAR red card! VAR at Mönchengladbach was s**te, but it was completely right here. For off ball decisions it's good. 



A good weekend, people should really get on those cheap Ryanair flights.

Makes my trip to see Hengrove take on high-flying Melksham look a little small, but at least I'll not be adding to the global warming in doing so. It's not far up the road from me.

Making plans for a trip to Albania to watch Wales, weirdo.

A lovely week planned at the end of the month:

Tuesday - Wuppertaler SV vs Bayer 05 Leverkusen - Friendly
Wednesday - FC Eindhoven vs Bristol Rovers - Friendly
Thursday - Genk vs Fola Esch or Prishtina - Europa League Second Qualifying Round
Saturday - Sheffield Wednesday - Villarreal - Friendly

Four new ticks in five days in four countries.

Girona 0 Valladolid 0. Watched the opening game of the La Liga season. Ground not much better than Gillingham's. Very large scaffolding as the main stand behind the goal - complete with no roof. It shouldn't need a roof - it's sunny Spain. Ground not sign-posted (as nothing is) and thank God for google maps. Was instructed to park about a mile away. Found out later there was tons off residential parking within 1/4 mile. After buying tickets in the morning was hit by a downpour of biblical proportions. Cars and m/bikes forced off the roads as they became torrents of water. Abandoned a trip to the Pyrenees and headed to the coast to escape the monsoon. Luckily game went ahead that evening. Valladolid brought a contingent of around 68. Crikey - Conference teams take more away than that. Attendance was around 10,000 (I think). Beer (Estella Damn) was 3 euros a pint ahead of the game - served out of a part of the Girona University buildings as they don't have a supporters club bar. Game was probably 'good Championship level'. Girona deserved the victory with a lively pair up front (Stuarni and Porta). Sat with some roudy Girona 'ultras' who were welcoming and a bit surprised to be joined by two Gasheads.
Two Blue & white quartered shirts in a see of red Girona shirts... they must have assumed we were friendly Sabadell fans...

I was at Skerries Town v Waterford last week in the FAI Cup. Technically a new ground as it was played at Skerries RFC. No surprise as Waterford won 4-1 with Noel Hunt getting a hat-trick. Waterford also had a keeper on loan from Swindle and an Estonian and Latvian international, so not too bad from my adopted home as Waterford are one of the few full-time teams here in Ireland. Invite always open for a trip to Ireland!