I have been looking forward to this game ever since it was announced that the
UEFA Women's Champions League final was to be at Chelsea's Stamford Bridge stadium. There were a few reasons for this. Firstly i was excited for the game itself' I love writing about the women's game so naturally i was very excited to see the biggest game in Women's club football live in the flesh. Secondly it was a chance to visit a stadium that i normally wouldn't get a chance to visit. As you can imagine tickets for Chelsea are a tad on the pricey side so getting the chance to see a game here for £10 was a bargain that wasn't going to be missed. Thirdly we had planned a day around London before the match which is something i always find pleasurable and finally all this meant a day off work.
Because we had a packed day planned it did mean an early start. We had planned to get the 6.05am train in the morning and get the last train back from London at 11.30pm. In other words it was a bloody long day. However i was all bright eyed and bushy tailed as i woke from my pit at 4.32am, and by 5.04am we were on our merry way to Newark to get the choo choo.
As this wasn't a normal thing for us to do we were all excited and we did seem to be the only people at the train station that seemed happy to be there, as the station and indeed the train seemed to be full of commuters on the daily "rat race" The journey down went fairly quickly as i read my copy of the Independent, Felice read footy magazine "Match", while Lee after a heated discussion with his good lady as to where he had left the washing, chilled out and watched the world go by. We hit the big smoke at just gone 7.30am, let all the Zombies head off the train to work (some were stood up and ready to go as we passed Felice's beloved Emirates Stadium) and swept into McDonald's for a spot of breakfast.
Throughout the day the plan was to visit a few football grounds so my friends could get a few pictures and buy some
To get Palace you need to get the tube down to London Bridge then an overground train that stops at Northwood Junction. One of London's little pleasures is the amount of free newspapers that get handed out and at London Bridge i bagged a copy of "City AM" to keep me up to date with all the business news, I don't have much of an interest in that kind of stuff, but its always good to read different papers with different styles.
Of the three grounds we were to visit, i thought that this would have been the easiest one to find because my two goons had seen a game here earlier in the season. They may have been intending to watch Charlton but "messed up" and ended up at Palace (that's a story for another day) but they had been here. On the approach to the ground we saw a sign say Selhurst park stadium straight ahead however my guides were convinced they knew a short cut and headed right. This turned out not to be a short cut and after a slight panic and much head scratching (not from myself) I managed to locate the ground for them and save their bacon. And as it transpired later, not for the first time in the day.
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| No Tools allowed. Lets hope Grimsby don't have a game here anytime soon. |
I am not going to go into huge detail about the grounds, otherwise if i ever see a game here i will have nothing to write about. Palace is a real old school ground with a run down feel to it. Its not too bad it just needs a little bit of TLC and a lick of paint here and there. The club shop was rather poor though, with plenty of playoff final tat on sale and precious little else, apart from the rather smart away kit. As we waited for our train back into town an elderly Palace fan (we know this because he had a Palace scarf on) decided that Felice was taking up too much platform and barged past him as he was blowing his hooter (which was running quicker than Usain Bolt). The poor lamb didn't know what to do or say.
From here it was back into the centre of London. This bit of the day was my idea as i had heard about the Champions league festival that was taking place in Trafalgar Square. We had arrived at the wrong time for one of the film showings but it was great to see the UEFA stage. There was a stall selling official merchandise and stuff which impressed Lee and he was well chuffed that i had suggested coming here. It was disappointing to see that it was all focused on the Men's final and nothing about the Women's game that was being played that evening. Oh well. All this brought back memories of the great final of 2010 when Inter became champions of Europe; the last Italian side to lift "Old Big Ears" Inter have been champions of Europe THREE times, which is one more than Juventus who have managed to nick the thing twice. Grande Inter Grande!!!
From here we headed to former Premiership laughing stock QPR. Its a doddle to find from White City tube station. It was a shame that the Springbok pub near the ground wasn't open as i have heard reports that's its one of the best football pubs in the country, but it will wait for another day. The club shop unlike the team on the pitch is quite good and i didn't realise how smart QPR's away kit was until i saw it in the flesh. The best thing about this area wasn't the ground at all but this dentist near the stadium. Is there a better named dentist in England? I doubt it.
After QPR we travelled to the only ground that i was really interested in visiting; Wembley Stadium, the home of football.
I haven't seen a game at Wembley in either of its incarnations. When Lincoln City reached the playoff final in both 2003 and 2005, Wembley stadium was still under construction so we had to go to Cardiff to watch us lose. In my rather nostalgic view, Wembley is one of the big three iconic stadiums in the world where international football is played (The other two being the Maracana in Brazil and Mexico's Azteca stadium). There are plenty of chances to watch a game here. You can get tickets for most England home matches easy enough plus you have the likes of FA Vase and Trophy finals if you fancy, but i wanted to make my first match at Wembley special. Therefore i had decided not to watch a match at Wembley unless 1) Lincoln City made the playoff/FA Trophy/FA Cup final or 2) The Pittsburgh Steelers played here as part of the NFL international series. Thankfully the Steelers are heading over here in September so it will be ticked off then. If it was down to the Imps it would have been a bloody long wait to visit this iconic stadium although by the time it happens i will probably be eligible for concession prices (or in the FA vase final). The approach down to the stadium from the tube stop isn't as long as it looks on TV but it certainly looks like a hell of a ground from the outside. Roll on September. They have some smart England stuff for sale in the shop as well as strangely enough stuff from England's leading clubs (and Liverpool) I was happy enough with an 150 years of the FA pin badge for £3. It had been a tiring morning and some of us needed a little snooze.
With all the "Sights" seen it was time to get some food then head out to West London and to Stamford Bridge. We decided on pizza for lunch (knives and forks used and no bibs required i hasten to add) and very nice it was too.
We alighted at Fulham broadway tube stop at just after 4.30pm, and as none of us had a clue where we were going ambled along to the ground. We didn't have to walk far before we saw a few tat stalls selling fake half and half scarves and flags, and the normal kind of cheap shit you get. Even though there was still quite a while to go till kick off, there seemed to be plenty of fans milling about Stamford Bridge. The club shop was open so we took a look and a bagged the match day programme for £5. There was some pretty smart UEFA stuff in there but at pretty smart prices too it has to be said. After getting all this stuff out of the way it was time for some ale. We did intend to go down the Kings Road, but none of us had a clue how to get there so we just piled into the nearest pub with was a rather posh looking one called the Butchers hook. When we got there it wasn't too busy so we settled down. Being the gentleman that i am i got the first round in, with 2 cokes and a pint of peroni setting me back £10.70! It was quite a swanky place, not the kind if watering hole that you encounter in Retford. Still it was a decent place to chill out and let the guys charge up their phones as their batteries were running low due to them having to report to their other halves every hour or so. I hadn't switched mine on till about 4 so like me it was still full of life. That was until i went up to grab another beer.
Now before we started drinking i knew it was going to be a lot more expensive than a afternoon/night out in Retford. Further more seeing how the pub only served up market beers (No Fosters or Carling here mi ducks) i was braced for an expensive pint but even i wasn't expected to hear the price £5.10 quoted to me. My first reaction was "Your fucking joking" but as the pint was poured i had to pay for the sodding thing. I drunk it very slowly and wasted none of it. I am pretty sure this is the dearest pint i have every supped. I know it wasn't this expensive when i got drunk as a skunk at Arsenal Ladies v Lincoln last season. I don't think i could afford an all day session drinking in the borough of Chelsea and Kensington like i do in the shit tip of Retford. Fellow Lincoln Ladies fan (and godfather of the Lincoln Ladies supporters club mafia) Tom joined us and we spent a while righting the wrongs of the football world before we headed off to the stadium.
And why had i done that? Well to those who aren't quite up to speed on women's club football on the continent, Lyon are a cross between Manchester City, Lincoln City, Barcelona and PSG in men's football. They have won the Champions League for the past two seasons and were currently on an 118 match unbeaten run in all competitions. At home they had wrapped up the French league by winning 22 out of 22 matches played, scoring 132 goals and conceding a total of 5. They have the biggest wage bill in women's football in the world, and have several internationals from the USA, Japan, and France. It isn't uncommon to see them rack up scorelines such as 11-0 in the league. Although they are a fantastic side it must make the French league a little boring to watch.
This was Wolfsburg's first final, but they are no mugs having wrapped up the German league and cup. Enroute to the final they had beaten English champions Arsenal in the semi final stage with a 4-1 aggregate win. German side beats an English one in a semi final.. Think i have heard that story somewhere before...
Before the game started we had the pleasure of the opening ceremony which was every bit as naff as you would expect and then we were into the action.
As its a few weeks since the game i am not going to go into a detailed match report just give my quick overview on the game. In the first half Lyon did most of the attacking but in my view they tried to walk the ball into the net. When that didn't work they decided to shoot from distance which again failed. Against lesser sides in France they don't have to work too hard to get goals. Tonight was very very different, as the German's defence was very good, very strong, and very organised. All together very German really. It was 0-0 at halftime and the dreaded thought of extra time began to surface. To try and liven up the atmosphere we had started a couple of Lincoln City chants which confused a French lad in front of us but he gave us the thumbs up after the chants, i think he must have thought we were chanting for Lyon. It has to be said that Felice has a soft spot for Lyon and is saving up for a Lyon shirt as i type.
The second half was pretty similar, then with about 20 mins to go Wolfsburg won a penalty for a handball on the edge of the box. Wolfsburg scored it and that was that. Lyon huffed and puffed but there was to be no third title in a row. And with a German side destined to win the Men's final, Germany's dominance of European football was complete. They have yet however to win the Lincolnshire County Cup.
After the game the thing that struck me was the fine line that exists at top level sport. While the Lyon players were flat out on the ground, the Wolfsburg ones were dancing singing the same song over and over again. As it was in German i had no idea what they were saying at the time, but i now know it was the following:
"Champions of Germany, Champions of Europe" (repeat for 20 odd minutes)
The crowd was a very respectable 19,300 which although decent, meant that the tube was a tad busy, but the train back didn't leave till 11.30pm so we had plenty of time. However Felice decided to take charge and alas all didn't go well until i stepped in, rescued his bacon again, and got us on the correct train to Kings Cross. He couldn't thank me enough bless him.
So all in all it was a great day, nice stadium, and it was fantastic to be at a Champions League final. Next year the event moves to Lisbon which should be great and i am very tempted to go to that. Anybody care to join me?
Hi,
ReplyDeletewhich row on west stand lower were the pictures taken from ?