FootyWanderer84

So much travelling last week had left me badly needing to catch up on sleep, so yet another Saturday passed with no game for me, which is crazy given my target to see as many games as I can this year, but I need to balance out some kind of self preservation, even if it is reluctant!

Sunday did however offer a double header, as the Scottish Cup draws had given both the Rangers men and women away ties at Hibs, with 12pm and 5:30pm kick off times making it easy to attend both games.

It did mean a very early start though after my nightshift, so a little over 1hr of sleep had to get me through the day! Quite a typical Sunday for me this year.

I met with Kar and we headed through to Leith, where we then got parked up and headed round to McDonald’s, meeting Wilf and grabbing breakfast before heading over to the ground and meeting Laura on our way in.

I spoke about Meadowbank last week, and nothing has changed about my thoughts on it. A great facility with all that is contained within it, but it’s terrible to watch football at.

Thankfully we were treated to a high scoring game, though a 6-2 win for Rangers most certainly did not tell the story of the game!

Although we spent time behind after the game, speaking with friends and some of the players, we had plenty of time to kill before we could enter Easter Road, so myself, Kar and Wilf headed along to Costa, where we met Bryan, as we took the time to relax and set the world to rights, as you do.

Making our way around to the ground, we were separated on entry to the ground, as Wilf’s ticket was for the lower tier, while 3 of us were in the upper.

Before this season I’d never been to Easter Road, but this was now the 3rd visit I’d made. It’s a tidy, if basic, modern ground, with good views from the stands. A world away from Meadowbank, even if it was only a mile or so on foot.

A fantastic atmosphere in the away end, as it always is, a highly competitive game saw a cup double over Hibs for Rangers on this day, and along with seeing Dougal at half time, it had been a good day!

It took until 9pm until I was home, and by this time I was running on empty. Putting off our usual Sunday podcast to record on Monday afternoon, I took a drink to bed, only to wake up 3hrs later not having touched it! Oh well, back to sleep!

Monday was time for a new ground, helping me on my way to possibly completing a league before the season ends. Morton were hosting Hearts in the final Scotttish Cup quarter final, and as I couldn’t find a login to try to get an away ticket, I was able to purchase a ticket for the home end, as Morton use the Fanbase app to seel their tickets. (A very handy app that many teams now use)

My tendency to be lackadaisical in route planning for games bit me once more, as after parking at Shields Road and taking the subway into the city centre, killing time with a stop for food in Wetherspoons, I made my way over to Central Station to find that the trains were stopping at Paisley, and not running through to Cartsdyke. By this point it was too late to get the refund of my ticket, and i’d wasted the time in town, plus the subway park and ride.

Heading back to the subway, I got back to the car and quickly paid for parking in advance at the Port Glasgow Tesco, and plugged it into maps and set off. Always a worry hitting the M8 at this time, roadworks beyond Glasgow Airport added to peak time traffic made sure that I had lost any margin of spare time to make the game. At least the time in the car gave time for an entertaining chat on the phone, so there was that.

Parking up at Tesco, I had a 1.5 mile walk, and about 45 minutes to kick off, so I hot footed it along Greenock Road, and made it to the queue to get in. I’d been naive though to not screenshot my ticket before getting to the ground, as I could not get it to load, either through the app or on email. I had plenty time to try though, as it took over 30 minutes to get in, missing the first 15 minutes or so. Thankfully the email confirmation was enough to get me in, and I made my way along the terrace behind the goal to find a place to stand.

For a first visit to this famous old ground, i’d picked a great game, as the place was packed and the atmosphere was there to match, with only the small sections of the ground that were sectioned off left empty. There are no frills to Cappielow Park, but there is a definite charm about grounds like this, and it was great to tick this one off my list.

A very competitive cup tie ensued, Hearts were expected to win comfortably, but Morton ran them all the way, before Hearts scored a late winner, with the only goal of the game. Definitely a good choice to have came to this game as a last minute idea. Thankfully the rain stayed off as I walked back to Tesco, picking up a couple of essentials to avoid shopping the following day and had a more relaxed drive home.

Any chances for football on Tuesday and Wednesday were shot by working backshift, so my next game was the week’s big one, back to Ibrox for the return leg of the Europa League clash with Benfica. A strange one, with a midweek kick off at 17:45, but given how rare British teams are given these kick offs, I don’t really see grounds for complaint. It certainly made travel in more challenging, though I was in early, giving me time to sample the growing atmosphere in the cafe in the club shop, before going down for the Fanzone opening. It was nice to be chatting to fellow fans in here, one of whom was telling me of some of the many grounds he had been to over the years, absolutely putting my numbers to shame! Was good to catch up with Irvine before leaving the fanzone too, and with the early kick off it gave me a chance to offer him a lift home before I headed in to work.

Heading up the stairs to the Club Deck is always a good bit of exercise, and it’s not uncommon that being up here I will see familiar faces. Though I didn’t expect to see many of the women’s team, as I first saw Jane Ross and Tess Middag, before manager Jo Potter passed as I was in the queue for food. As it turned out, they were sat just a few rows back from me, and I saw a few of the other players who I got to say hello to. Only Jo came back at half time with a pie though, the players clearly taking healthier options!!

Sadly the European dream was to die for this year though, as 1 goal was enough to settle it, frustratingly Benfica capitalizing on some questionable defending to score the goal that took them on to a quarter final with Marseille, a tie that would have been very interesting for Rangers to get!

Back to work, the next couple of nights were spent contemplating some trips that I had in mind, and locking some of them down. Saturday was another day without a game, as tiredness again caught up with me. But plans are now in place for some trips over the next few months that will see me visit new countries for the first time, revisit some, and tick off multiple new grounds.

For the most part, while I will have to wait for tickets to go on sale, I expect I should get tickets without too much hassle. Getting a ticket for Elland Road though will be a challenge, as I hope to make this part 2 of my day on the upcoming bank holiday.

While planning ahead for the next few months, looking at the progress i’ve made on watching games at all of the Scottish League grounds, of the current 41 grounds, going back just 2 years I had only ticked off 10 of them. As I write this, i’m up to 30, with a good chance of adding 6 more before the season ends. Those that remain are mostly distance ones, that will take some days off to tackle next season, but quite possibly I may be able to complete the 41 or 42 next season, which will be a great achievement for me.

I’m now starting some time off work, so will take the chance to tick off a few games and new grounds over the next 10 or 11 days. No planes in this next block, but plenty of miles to cover by train and road. Back in the air next month though!