Lokeren Away 2003

[King KdB of Belgium]

Yes I also remember it well. Staying out side of a bar drinking Stella on draught. That was the best Stella I ever had. Also remember sitting on a stand that was just scaffolding. Always worried that it might give way with all the jumping up and down that we did during the game.

 

[carlosthejackal]

Went via Amsterdam, session in Amsterdam, train down day of the game , session in Antwerp , no tickets , City drank Lokeren dry if I remember, walked in without tickets , back into Antwerp for more beer and hotel, back up to Amsterdam the day after for window shopping and beer . What a trip .

 

[i went to rotherham]

We flew with Thomas Cook and still have the City Bobhat that was on every seat of the plane as we flew out. Awesome away trip, spent in a bar taken over by City fans (was next to a church I seem to remember ) and adorned with flags. Gutted I cant find the pics. The walk to the ground was lined with riot police, barbed wire and water cannons !

 

[colinthewindowcleaner]

Heard a lot about that flight home, how come it was so bad?

During the game a city fan ( still goes, quite old now, grey hair, bit of a quiff, usually had a drink), got into an argument near a food stall in the ground with a couple of younger lads, they gave him a bit of a beating
Unfortunately for them, they were on the flight back when a group of this blokes mates decided to give them a smack, the whole cabin crew seem to panic and there was a lot of fighting shouting etc and threats to land the plane etc.
Police were waiting at the airport probably to stop the 2 lads from getting another kicking.
This is my interpretation of events as I saw what happened

 

[sktooblue]

We drank in Gent in the afternoon before getting the train to Lokeren. As we came off the station, all you could see were City fans slumped in the streets & strobe lights from the police vans -never seen so many bladdered blues, every bar was a scrum. Great trip!!!

 

[bobbymimms]

it was a great away day european trip.. with now defunct thomas cook.

 

[Scaring Europe to Death]

During the game a city fan ( still goes, quite old now, grey hair, bit of a quiff, usually had a drink), got into an argument near a food stall in the ground with a couple of younger lads, they gave him a bit of a beating
Unfortunately for them, they were on the flight back when a group of this blokes mates decided to give them a smack, the whole cabin crew seem to panic and there was a lot of fighting shouting etc and threats to land the plane etc.
Police were waiting at the airport probably to stop the 2 lads from getting another kicking.
This is my interpretation of events as I saw what happened

Funnily enough, I was talking about the incident with the original culprit, in a pub in Whaley Bridge, just before the.lockdown.

Him and his 2 mates (brothers from Chapel en le Frith) were steaming on cheap local vodka, and ended up in a fracas, which he freely admits was his own fault. Then they were attacked by the victim''s mates on the return flight.
He's not proud of his actions, and in mitigation, he's now full of remorse.

 

[183sash]

Heard a lot about that flight home, how come it was so bad?

I’ve still got the clipping out of the Sun about the “ flight from hell” don’t understand how to post pictures on here otherwise I’d put it on

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Flew Stanstead to Charleroi £11 each way including tax.
An hour on the train to Antwerp where we stayed the night

 

[citydad]

It was decided that we stay in Ghent the day before and turned out a top evening/night/early hours etc. Getting back in dribs and drabs back to our hotel we carried on the party as such, due to something trivial that had occurred on arrival back at our abode it resulted in Tin Tin's finest officers a banging on our door!! They gained entry and proceeded to nick everyone, In all the confusion I explained to this female officer in my best stell'anglais that I needed the toilet and she let me use the bathroom where I just shut the door got in the bath, pulled the shower curtain and stood motionless trying not to make a noise, was a gamble but had I been rumbled I'd have just said "ONLY JOKING" but 1 minute became 2 became 3 and after prob 10 mins I thought fuck it they must have gone. I opened the door and sat on the bed I'd escaped but then I heard a mustled voice and this body popped his head up from under the bed, another one of the boys had dodged Belgian's odd lot. Our compadre's can you believe it ended up getting deported, was with a heavy heart that we had to sit through pre match hospitality and a belting trip.P.S. We laugh about that trip and even the deportee's called me Norman Bates next time we met up.