A v Albania 28.3.2001

A v Albania 28.3.2001

Where do I start!

We left Heathrow on the 22.05 flight on the Monday evening, arrived in Athens
airport at 4am local time (first problem was adjusting watches, just changed for BST last Sunday, forward 2 hours for Greece, then back an hour for Albania, I think!). The connecting flight to Albania was due at 5.30am but was delayed due to weather, or lack of weather. Athens received no weather information from Tirana so wouldn't let the plane leave! It finally did around 6.30am and we arrived into Tirana about 1 ½ hours later.

On arrival into Albania you have to complete entry and exit visas and then pay a $10 entry tax. The poor woman had to write out individual receipts using a 100 year old bit of carbon paper!! It took about an hour for everyone on the flight to get through. The building was primitive and that was a taster of things to come. The taxi drivers were clambering to get our business and we sorted it with a bloke inside the airport and we were off. It cost us 25$ and considering the average wage is $22 per month, shows why they so eager! The taxi journey was interesting and as Jason said he wasn't sure which side of the road they actually drive on, we decided it was the ones without the huge pot holes. As we approached the outskirts of Tirana the roads became worse and everything was dusty and there were loads of people just hanging around the side of the roads appearing to be doing nothing. The main congestion on the roads was at junctions as there are no traffic lights or road markings. The taxis compete with people, horse and carts and the vehicles that you use to see in the old
Pink Panther (Peter Sellers- not the cartoon) movies, and also old bicycles with large baskets on the front. At this stage I think we were wondering what we had let ourselves in for.We arrived at the Hotel and what a result. We were paying $90 a twin room,but it was worth it. It was one of the best hotels we have stayed in on our many trips abroad following England. We left our luggage in reception and headed out as we couldn't check in until midday and it was only 8.30am.There was a bar over the road and we ventured in. We ordered a few cokes and an early morning beer. We dug out a map we had to try and work out where things were and we soon had different people coming over and trying to help us out. English is the second language of Albania (map reading is NOT!).Everyone was really friendly and interesting, and chatted to us in broken English. Once again this set the tone for the trip, they were fascinated in 'Westerners' as much as we were in the stark contrast of living in a country such as Albania compared to most of Europe.At midday we returned to the Hotel checked in showered and then headed out for the U21 match. We got to the alleged venue, a stadium ready to collapse at any moment. Apparently the team arrived and they didn't even let the players get out and refused to play there so it was moved to the same venueas the main game the next day. We arrived about 3.10 eventually queued up and got our 300 Lev ticket (About £1.50) and headed in. The ground was basic but we had a roof for this match which was lucky as it was chucking it down. There were probably as many watching the match from building sites as in the ground. England dug out a 1-0 win (Greening penalty - I think!). After the game we met up with Ashford Steve (Brighton fan), Scunny Daz, Scunny Mark and careful Colin the Birmingham City fan. We passed a supposed Irish bar so headed in and had a beer or two. We basically went on a bar crawl of Tirana and it was superb. We met some Stoke, Birmingham, Villa and Doncaster fans in a nightclub bar but went into a smaller bar around 11pm and discovered that bars were being shut on Police advice due to the reputation of England fans. The bar owners saw that everyone about was genuine and they all served us! The last bar we were in was the tops. The owner pulled down the shutters and we were in for as long as we wanted. I think it was 2/3am when we left as some of us had been up from 6.30am Monday morning and it was now 3am Wednesday morning with no sleep! We had no ideawhere the hotel was but set off determined to get back and 20 minutes later found ourselves back where we had just left! We did (eventually) find the hotel and crashed out


Wednesday morning was a struggle. I had to get up to do a Radio slot for Southern Counties Radio, and then we wandered into town again. Most Englandfans for this trip had come on organised day trips, they missed out on a place that had not a lot to offer, but everyone made us feel really welcomeand it was one of the best trips I have been on. A few local school kids decided to throw stones at us at one stage but a local Albanian chased them off and apologised!We headed for the ground around 7pm and the organisation was dreadful. They had moved the section for England fans and it was chaos getting in. There were baton wielding Police keeping (we think) ticketless Albanian fans out the stadium. We got in without showing ticket and the alleged reserved England section was full of Albanians! There were approximately 1,500 England fans at the match and room left for about 600. The only hassle we saw all the time we were in Albania from England fans was during the first 10 minutes of the game as they attempted to wedge us all in the top corner.A lot of people had had enough and stood in the other part of the top section that should have been reserved for us anyway. The few hundred Albanians in that section were soon moved out and we at last had some room.The atmosphere was good and the first half poor in football terms. At this point I should also mention that the ground had no toilet facilities - niceone!!!! I imagine most people saw the game, but we scrapped a 3-1 win.

Some pictures from the match................





armed police patrol the roof of the stadium!!.................

NORMAN WISDON - seen as a comic genious and a bit of a hero in Albania!!






After the final whistle it was the only nasty bit of the trip. The local thugs were throwing rocks/stones into the away end from outside with catapults. At first the Police did nothing but eventually armed up and chased them off. They held us in for 20 minutes or so and most people disappeared back onto coaches to go back to the airport. There was a group of about 20 of us wandering into town and we did get a few verbals from a few people
but safely got back into a bar the Scunny lads had been in before the march.We settled down, exhausted for the last few days and had a 'few' relaxing beers.

Thursday we had a 9.45am flight back to Thessaloniki and that was where it went wrong. We were supposed to fly back straight to Gatwick but last week they told us the flight was cancelled so had booked us a hotel and would fly us out Friday afternoon. When we checked in they told us that was wrong and we had to fly from Tirana to Thessaloniki to Athens to Heathrow. 9.45-12.05 13.10-14.05 19.10-21.10 (our time). Unfortunately for us Thursday was the day that the brand new airport in Athens opened. The building opened ok but none of the computer links etc etc worked!!! We were delayed for 3 hours in Thessaloniki and when we got to Athens it was chaos. They lost our plane(true) and found it 3 hours later! When we arrived into Heathrow at 23.15 they then announced that the plane had no luggage on board! It turned out that all flights that left Athens yesterday had no luggage. We had to fillin a claim form and they will be sent by courier back to us when they eventually get back to Heathrow!!! By then it was nearly midnight as some of our lot were going back to Lewes and Worthing missed the last train. We went to the Olympic air desk but they had all gone home and would be back at6.20am. BAA attempted to help us out but they could make no contact with Olympic so we got a taxi home and will make a claim today! So we set off from our Hotel in Albania at 6.30am (UK time) and arrived at 23.15pm (uk time) too many hours for me! Sods law - the next England away match is Greece in Athens, perhaps we can collect our bags then, if they can find them!

Mark R

Update
The good news is our luggage turned up yesterday and was delivered by courier. The Fatty Taxman had his luggage delivered to his local pub!!!!!!!!!!!Brighton are 2nd in the league, England just won 2 matches on the trot, so I wasn't worried about delayed luggage, but drinking more beer does help!

Mark R





...................................................drunk but happy......................

H v Finland (Anfield) 24.3.2001

H v Finland (Anfield) 24.3.2001

After finally getting confirmation just after 1pm that the Brighton match was off, Phil Blackman and I embarked on the mission to find 3 tickets for Anfield to get our weekend fix of beer and football. By 7pm we had 3 match tickets (approx £45 each) and train tickets from London to Liverpool for just £19. Those that had booked earlier in the week paid £45 but Virgin ran some additional trains on Saturday (especially for the football) so released additional cheap tickets!I set off at 5.45am from Aldrington as normal and arrived at Euston around7.30. I bumped into some Spurs fans we first met in Sweden in Euro '92, one of them had to suffer sharing a tent with me and the Fatty Taxman, but amazingly they still remains mates 9 years on! We headed for a café and then met up with a very 'Green' looking Phil Blackman about 8.30. Phil encountered problem number 1, they did have any tickets for him to collect(I will let him explain) but he ended up with a scrappy note from the travel office saying he was allowed to travel to Liverpool!We stocked up with some cans of cider and Phil sort of turned an even stranger colour and asked us to keep the smell of alcohol away from him. Due to Engineering works the 9.10 from Euston crawled into Liverpool Lime Street at 13.08. I had to meet a mate of a mate to get my match ticket, and it turned out to be a lad we see all round Europe and its was the annoying Palace fan. (Well we call him something different but as kids may read this will refrain from further comment!). We walked past a kebab shop and I heard my name called and it was the Gainsborough Trinity lads. One had just come back from Sri Lanka and was on a real high. He had been to the last text match in India and the final 2 in Sri Lanka so had seen three wins on the trot!! This bloke spends more time abroad then me and the Fatty Taxman put together!!!! Soon after Andy S and Kev K from the list arrived in 'The Liffe' pub and we settled down for a few beers and swapped ideas of how to get to the ground, the queue for taxis at Lime Street were fairly long!! We couldn't decide so had another beer to think about it!The Police were on overkill as usual and there were hundreds of them about.We met up with a Cov mate and also the Scunny lad that has won quite a bit of dosh of f the Fatty Taxman as we have failed to beat them this season! We started the long walk to the ground about 2.15 but luckily caught a cab after walking for about 5 minutes. It dropped us near the ground and we saw the Northampton lads we usually meet. They had played away at Oldham on Friday night, so had gone up to Liverpool Friday morning. They had such a good time (and so many beers) they forgot to go to Oldham, but they were not that bothered (they lost 2-1)!

Phil and Piers were on the Kop, but I was 4th row in the Centenary stand, and I had a brilliant view and it was strange being so close to a pitch compared to Withdean. Anfield looks small and to get 44,000 into it they restrict the leg room! McManaman (sp?) had an excellent game and he also had great banter with the crowd. Despite being at Anfield the majority of people around us were from London and the South plus quite a few Man Utd fans. All the Man Utd players got a great reception and Andy Cole was the only one to get stick but that was for his dire 2nd half display, not the fact he was Man Utd. The atmosphere was superb, and I'm starting to enjoy the England trips to different parts of the country. Last week we booked up tickets for the Albania/Greece home games at St James Park (Newcastle) and Old Trafford. There are also friendly matches confirmed for Derby, Spurs and Leeds so we will get to see some of the new improved Premiership stadiums.I wont comment on the match as most of you will have seen it, but for 45mins England struggled but once Owen had scored England took over. Beckham scored a cracker, but Litmenan (sp?) missed a sitter in the last few minutes. (My only complaint of the whole day was the fact the Centenary stand ran out of food at 3.10!!!)

After the final whistle we met up in a pub near the ground (bumped into the nutty Hull boys and the even madder Brentford lad who lives in Haywards Heath!) waited for the crowds to go and then caught a bus back to the City centre. We had a quick beer, raided the off-licence and then caught the 18.45 from Liverpool, well some of us did. Two were left behind as the train left 5 minutes early. Phil, Piers and I had to stand until after Runcorn and had the pleasure of the Merseyside constabulary for company in the area between compartments. We generously offered them some cans of beer but as they were working they couldn't indulge, shame!! On the train there were a few Orient, Millwall, West Ham and Sarfend. The Sarfend fan was so full of bull***t it was funny. He reckons we didn't take that many first game of the season, and we shouldn't believe the crowd printed in our programme.We got back into London 4 hours later and I think I got home around 1.30.Spent last night packing, ready for out trip to Albania which starts tonight with a 22.05 flight to Athens, hopefully connecting with a 5.30am flight onto Tirana. Who knows what will happen after that! If we get kidnapped can I enter a reserve prediction for the Seagulls Fantasy League of 2-1 Albion win every match Zamora to score crowd 6,600!!!If I get an emergency phone call I will phone in my cup semi-final prediction as well!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Mark R

H v Spain (Villa Park) 28.02.2001

We went to the U21s at St Andrews the night before. My sister was living in Birmingham at the time and we went for a rather hot Curry after the U21 match! It kept us warm the next night at Villa Park!

A v Italy (Turin) 15.11.2000

A v Italy (Friendly) - From Turin to Aldershot (via Milan!)

So another few days abroad following England, followed by the excitement of the FA Cup and then the nervous anticipation watching the second round draw! Our latest venture started on Tuesday evening as we headed up to the Burrells in Haywards Heath to watch the U21 friendly live from Monza before heading to listee Andy S's place in Cowfold as we had a 3.30am departure time to drive up to Stansted. (Cheers for driving up Andy!) The U21 matchlasted 10 mins before being abandoned due to fog! We arrived into Stansted just before 5.15am and boy was it cold. The cars in the long stay car park were frozen solid and we were the same despite only a few minutes wait for the bus to the terminal building. Our 6.30am flight to Milan was only half full and we soon nodded off and woke up just before landing. On arrival in Milan at 9.30am we went straight to the train station and for just £10 booked our return train tickets from Milan to Turin. (cheap as it takes 1 ½ hours on an express train). We decided to delay our arrival in Turin as we had been informed a 24 hour beer ban was in place, so settled down for a beer or two before catching the 11.20 from Milan. We arrived in Turin and dropped our stuff off our Hotel. We met some mates (Scunny fans!) before heading out in search of food (and drink). Everywhere appeared shut and after about an hour walking around we were just about togive up. Phil B then spotted a beer glass as we passed a small back streetbar. The 6 of us wandered in and what a result. The bar was quiet but soon a local madman arrived and engaged us in a strange conversation. He bought all of us a beer and then got up and left, top man! The bar also supplied free sandwiches and they accompanied the beer very nicely. We set of for the ground around 7pm (8.45 kick off) and by the time we had flagged down two cabs we were dropped off outside the stadium at around 7.45.



That's when the fun began. England fans were arriving in small groups and the waiting Italian mobs were loving it. As we were dropped of a huge roar went up and the Italians attacked a couple of England fans (in shirts) walking across the car park. We veered to one side and mingled amongst people queuing for food! We eventually risked attempting to get to the away entrance but two lads called us back as they had just been attacked walking around that corner. We were well and truly snookered! At last a couple more England fans turned up and we risked moving on. Once we gotround the corner it was a nightmare. They spotted us straight away and they started by throwing one of those rather loud bangers in the middle of us. That split everybody up and they then charged with chains, belts with buckles and bloody baseball bats. Most people got a few slaps and I was luckily pulled into the ground (Italian section of the ground) by some Italians who saw what was happening! It was a nightmare. The Italians turned their attention to the Police and had them cornered. Bricks, rocksand fire crackers rained down on them and a small group of Italian schoolchildren were caught in the middle but that didn't deter the Italian nutters! It only lasted a few minutes (probably 5 at most) but it was a little bit scary! We eventually met up inside the away end (I got my own 2 man police escort around the ground and into the away end) and thank god for mobile phones as the others had regrouped outside but I was missing! They were relieved as I was to find out I was still in one bit and already inside! Everyone was high on adrenaline and Phil B was most upset as when everyone split up he was passed by a speeding Fatty Tax-man. Being out run by the Fatty Tax-man eh Phil? Get down the Gym mate! The game passed of peacefully but one lad who was wearing a white stone island jacket (worth over £400 I was informed) was gutted as he had beencracked on the head and had bleed all over it! As for the match we played well but why the game was ever played in Turin is beyond me. Juventus fans will never forget (or forgive) Heysel and they were hell bent on revenge. After the game they provided free buses back to Turin centre so there were no problems as there were around 1,000 England fans bussed back and no one was risk attacking that many together! I would have estimated that between 2,000 and 3,000 England fans made the trip - not a bad turn out as the crowd was only just over 22,000.In the ground the Italian fans were split into two factions. Torino fans at the end by us and Juventus fans at the other end. They spent most of the time abusing each other. Despite the low crowd the atmosphere was still good.



These pictures show Peter Taylor in his only game in charge. His first decision was to make Beckham captain. Unfortunately we lose 0-1!



The next day was much quieter and we had a look around Turin and everything had reopened. We headed back to Milan with the intention of going to the San Siro, but the weather was dreadful so we did not go.We arrived back at 7.30 Friday evening into Stansted (1 ½ delay in Milan)and thoughts turned to Saturday. We drank in Farnham so missed all the problems. After the match we remained in Aldershot for the cup draw and had a great evening, shame about Scunthorpe draw! I headed back with Jonny Rutter and Lulu but have no recollection of what time or route we took back!Any ideas Jonny?

Mark R(Back at work for a rest!)