My first European away trip was in April 1970, when we played Schalke. I was in Vienna for the final, naturally.
Over the years, I’ve seen City play close to 90 times in Europe, and that’s counting pre-season games as well as UEFA competitions.
It’s incredible how things have changed regarding the way we are treated. Plenty of people on here will remember the disgraceful organisation outside San Siro before the game when we played Atalanta. Santander was another joke, and what can we say about Istanbul?
We are treated like sheep in countries like Spain, Italy and Portugal. The policing is completely over the top, and it’s just as well that we’re a pretty peaceful lot; otherwise, there have been many occasions when a riot was very close.
In Germany we have no such problems. Everyone is normally let out together, and I’ve never seen any trouble.
Sporting away last time was ridiculous. As I drove down from Salamanca I had my hotel in the north of the city, near the Oriente train station, but there was no way that the robocops would allow me to get out of the police escort and travel back there. Instead, like everyone else, we were herded like sheep back to the metro station, shoved on a non-stop train down to Rossio Square, and left to make our own way back to our digs.
This time, I’ll be staying in the city centre, so I’ll only have to walk a few hundred yards to my hostel.
See you all there. I’m the fat bald one!