Exeter Blue I am here
Well-Known Member
I should just preface what is an habitual lament, by stating that taking over a foreign town with hundreds and hundreds of singing, drinking, City supporting mates (plus a bit of culture if you feel so inclined) always makes for a good day out. The Champions League match day 'experience' abroad though is still as much a pile of piss as it was 2 years ago when Ajax kindly opened 2 turnstiles for 4 and a half thousand away fans, who found themselves in a gigantic crush lasting the better part of an hour to get in, whereupon they then got the full Customs and Excise body cavity search treatment, a walk up 9000 concrete steps, watched Joleon Lescott shit himself for 90 minutes, got locked in for half an hour afterwards, before being finally released into the welcoming arms of every riot squad officer in the Netherlands in full paramilitary gear.
Anyway, not wishing to be a precious knickers (but I'm gonna be), last night involved decamping at Maria Christiana (?) metro, walking to the ground, getting directed down a side road for away supporters, entry to which meant showing your ticket to stewards, walking down said side road, getting stopped half way down by another set of stewards, who wanted to see your tickets a second time just in case the original stewards had decided to run off to sea or join ISIS or have a late siesta or whatever, reaching the ground, whereupon more stewards inspected your tickets before directing you to your own individual orange bibbed fondler, after which you were held briefly by more stewards at a manned barricade, who periodically released it to let you walk back and forth up the long concrete ramps into the ground, at the top of which your ticket was inspected again (mine was in tatters due to over-handling by this point), before being allowed to make your final ascent via concrete stairwells, at the top of which, gasping for a fucking drink, you had the opportunity to join 20 or 30 other Blues in a queue at a bleak refreshments - let's call it a - shack built into the concrete alcoves under the terraces and staffed by a grand total of 2 people (think Portsmouth during the 80's and that hut manned by that old biddy, only less efficient) for an overpriced non-alcoholic drink that you weren't then allowed to take into the ground itself, access to which was courtesy of a 5th and final ticket check, a complete and utter fucking waste of time as everyone just sat where the hell they wanted just like last year - and indeed my own row down the front had been sectioned off with masking tape so you couldn't have sat there even if you'd wanted to. At least I knew where my 99 Euros went I suppose!
And after watching Lionel Messi nutmeg half the City team, it was time to leave. Or rather it wasn't. 40 minutes needlessly shut in on the freezing roofless terrace came first, and then after being released from that captivity, a further 10 minutes shut in on the concourse below, before being corralled (like Ajax) away from the ground, in the opposite direction from where you wanted to go, by two long rows of batoned, helmeted and black scarves up over the nosed, Spanish riot squadders. And to complete the evening, a full complement of railway security knobheads back at Maria Christana metro, who refused to open the turnstiles to relieve the crush, but happily allowed each person through to pass their ticket back across the barriers to the next person in line. In the end I think about 200 people must have used the same ticket, but thanks to the jobsworths the whole process took 20 minutes instead of 2.
Anyway, the Champions League; I want to be in it for the money it generates for the club and because of the players it enables us to buy, but it's shit really. And not just cos we're no good at it......
Anyway, not wishing to be a precious knickers (but I'm gonna be), last night involved decamping at Maria Christiana (?) metro, walking to the ground, getting directed down a side road for away supporters, entry to which meant showing your ticket to stewards, walking down said side road, getting stopped half way down by another set of stewards, who wanted to see your tickets a second time just in case the original stewards had decided to run off to sea or join ISIS or have a late siesta or whatever, reaching the ground, whereupon more stewards inspected your tickets before directing you to your own individual orange bibbed fondler, after which you were held briefly by more stewards at a manned barricade, who periodically released it to let you walk back and forth up the long concrete ramps into the ground, at the top of which your ticket was inspected again (mine was in tatters due to over-handling by this point), before being allowed to make your final ascent via concrete stairwells, at the top of which, gasping for a fucking drink, you had the opportunity to join 20 or 30 other Blues in a queue at a bleak refreshments - let's call it a - shack built into the concrete alcoves under the terraces and staffed by a grand total of 2 people (think Portsmouth during the 80's and that hut manned by that old biddy, only less efficient) for an overpriced non-alcoholic drink that you weren't then allowed to take into the ground itself, access to which was courtesy of a 5th and final ticket check, a complete and utter fucking waste of time as everyone just sat where the hell they wanted just like last year - and indeed my own row down the front had been sectioned off with masking tape so you couldn't have sat there even if you'd wanted to. At least I knew where my 99 Euros went I suppose!
And after watching Lionel Messi nutmeg half the City team, it was time to leave. Or rather it wasn't. 40 minutes needlessly shut in on the freezing roofless terrace came first, and then after being released from that captivity, a further 10 minutes shut in on the concourse below, before being corralled (like Ajax) away from the ground, in the opposite direction from where you wanted to go, by two long rows of batoned, helmeted and black scarves up over the nosed, Spanish riot squadders. And to complete the evening, a full complement of railway security knobheads back at Maria Christana metro, who refused to open the turnstiles to relieve the crush, but happily allowed each person through to pass their ticket back across the barriers to the next person in line. In the end I think about 200 people must have used the same ticket, but thanks to the jobsworths the whole process took 20 minutes instead of 2.
Anyway, the Champions League; I want to be in it for the money it generates for the club and because of the players it enables us to buy, but it's shit really. And not just cos we're no good at it......