TTIWAO : a post-lockdown post-script

[JoM]

Stranger things have happened, might have more of a chance if we put the academy lads out...

We had more information by email last night. A health questionnaire will be emailed today, once that’s returned e-tickets will be activated.
And our ‘time slot’ to go through the turnstiles is 5.15 (it’s a 6pm kick off). No earlier, no later. 5.15.

I can already tell you that refreshments will be either a Tesco meal deal (£3 for a sandwich, snack and drink) or whatever Home Bargains have along with a bottle of their finest 29p water to take in (must be a clear liquid, no bottle tops allowed). All depends on which way we decide to walk along the Chester Rd

Oh, and we need to take photo ID.

Like I said, it’ll be interesting...

[Workingman]

Ah yes, Old Trampyard's world famous finest stale pies and lukewarm tea.

When visiting our train came in at Piccadilly, then it was a walk to BR, Oxford Road, and then the bus to Talbot Road. There used to be a few cafes at the cross-roads on SMB Way just before the ground where you could get some decent snap before entering Hell.

Shame it is a bit of a dead rubber game now that the title has gone and Fulham are relegated, but good to have (some) fans back.

And good luck in the Europa Final a few days later.

[cromwell]

Enjoy the match Jo, and as WM says good luck in the Europa.

[TheOstrich]

No report from Ossie this weekend unfortunately - a combination of visiting relatives, scattered thunderstorms, matches being called off across the county due to player fatigue, and nothing of particularly burning interest being scheduled anyway!

Over to our Midlands reporter next Tuesday night, then!

[Kaz]

Aw!!!

[JoM]

Midlands correspondent checking in.

What a feeling to walk back into the ground.
I would take 10000 in the ground over the usual 74000 every week. It made for a much better atmosphere, because the people in there were there to support the team. It was a tourist-free zone (Asian tourists mostly). We didn’t trip over carrier bags full of merchandise as we went to our seats, people were watching what was happening on the pitch rather than frequently turning around and taking selfies with the game going on behind them, people were watching and not updating their social media. I looked at the crowd in front of us at one point and couldn’t see a single phone being held up.
Joe commented about how different it felt, and how much he preferred it. He’s 21, his match going days started in 2004 so football as it is now is all he knows.
Season ticket renewal is next month so hopefully we’ll get to use them next season, but who knows.

Anyway, onto the important bit. Food.
Home Bargains total spend £2.87 - two bags of Mint Poppets (bags, not boxes ), two tubes of Refreshers, one bottle of still water and one bottle of sparkling water (a bargain at 10p due to a best before date of May 31st).
We treated ourselves to a steak pie each in the ground at an eye watering £4.10 each. They were very nice though and full of large chunks of steak.

Frank, there are still some food places there including Macari’s chippy. We’ve always got the train into Piccadilly and walked from there, unless it was raining and then we’d get the tram down to the stop at the cricket ground. Joe’s keen to drive though now there aren’t miles of roadworks on the M6.

[Kaz]

Sounds like you had a great time Jo! That is an eyewatering price for a pie though

[TheOstrich]

Brilliant, Jo, thanks for that. I see you haven't mentioned the result, though ....

Very interested to read your thoughts on the difference in the match day experience. A long time ago now, (well 26th June 2013, to be precise, I've just looked it up ) my Yorkshire mate Peter suggested we meet up at the Pirelli Stadium, Burton on Trent for a friendly women's international game between England and (the then world champions) Japan. The capacity is about 6,900 and it was pretty much packed out. There were two main types of supporters, virtually every schoolgirl in Staffordshire (they gave out free tickets to organised school parties), and Japanese tourists. As far as I could see, that just left the Sheffield Wednesday Supporters Club Drum Band (for some unaccountable reason) - and us.

What struck me was that every Japanese around us was holding up a iPad or tablet or something (they were a bit innovative back then), and seemingly watching the game through those devices - I couldn't really understand what they were doing. Were they filming it, were they taking selfies, were they magnifying the action in some way? But they were all at it, and it was quite a weird atmosphere. I seem to remember they were all munching popcorn, and kept smiling and bowing to us.

And every schoolgirl had a vuvuzela. Remember them? I think they were handing them out outside the ground. Talk about a cacophony .....

It was quite a memorable afternoon, to put it mildly, and I can still see it in my mind's eye now. It was a 1-1 draw, for the record.

That pie is actually not that much more expensive than Yeovil Town's. And if it had decent steak in it, and wasn't just a gravy mush, well fair enough!

[JoM]

The result was better than we expected

Vuvuzelas! That’s going back a bit isn’t it!
Ipads and tablets aren’t allowed into Old Trafford, they were banned a few years ago now. They were a flippin’ nuisance!

[cromwell]

I see UEFA has managed to invent a new Tupperware competition called the Europa Conference League.
One Premier League team will enter it, either the seventh or eighth finisher in the PL.
Thank heavens the season is finishing tomorrow, the way Leeds were going like a train we might have ended up in it and honestly, who needs that?

Is there no way that the FA or the club concerned can say "No thanks, we'll pass on this one"?
I would imagine that surviving in the Premier League is way more important than doing well in the Europa Conference League, and for a PL club with a small squad and budget I can't imagine they'd want their resources stretched by having to participate.