By far the worst I’ve done was Sheffield Wednesday in a FA Cup 3rd round replay in 2018. We’d drawn at home 0-0 and me and my dad thought we’d go to the replay, living in south Manchester Sheffield is pretty easy to get to as it’s just over the woodhead pass (or snakehead but that’s closed a lot).
Fuck me it snowed a lot that day. We were the last car over woodhead and it was not safe to drive, but we got there fine. Lost the game which for a while was shaky if it would carry on because of the snow, but coming out was bad, snow and ice on the roads, cars slipping all over the place. We had to go the long way back because the roads over were closed so we were stuck in slow 1 lane traffic on the M62 all the way back because the rest of the motorway was undrivable. What’s usually a less than an hour journey took us over 3 hours to get back.
Also once did Yeovil away for a cup replay, also midweek in January and I don’t think I’ve ever been as cold at a game, dropped to -14 at one point and in replays of the game you can see the pitch freeze over time. We won on penalties but a bit of me still wishes Yeovil had scored their last min penalty they got in the 90 so it would’ve been over.
The fog at home to Ipswich was pretty fun, was sat behind the goal and couldn't see the other end of the pitch or the scoreboard.
"South stand, what's the score? South stand south stand what's the score?"
Make it 2-1 with a late winner
"We can't see you, we can't see you, we can't see you sneaking out!" A good twist on the classic
Less fun is after that match we went on a 17 game winless run. Also if not for the fog we probably lose and 3 points less last season is relegation
Good memory anyway, there were definitely some other funny chants I've forgot
I missed our League Cup semi-final away at City because the police had closed the M6 whilst we were on it, to recover a lorry full of illegal immigrants who had decided to run off into nearby fields.
Went to Rotherham from Barnsley on boxing Day it was snowing and our car slid down a massive steep hill from the very top to the very bottom missed every car parked on the road somehow and magically stopped at the bottom before we went first into a busy road and then off a 20 foot drop into a field.
Brown trousers for everyone involved.
Once blagged my way into the NZ Knights v Sydney FC corporate area saying I'd travelled all the way from the UK to watch them play back when Dwight Yorke played for Sydney he didn't play and they still beat the Knights 4-0.
I'd travelled from downtown Auckland in reality haha.
Think the craziest I've attended was Sheffield United at home. Tuesday night home game, felt like I'd showed up on the wrong day it was that quiet before kickoff.
Only memorable thing from the game was John Fleck collapsing in the 2nd half. Was difficult to watch, it's was like the paramedics were moving in slow motion. Put a damper on the game (I think we lost, the result wasn't particularly important at that point). Thankfully he was ok.
Glad he got a standing ovation when we played them the next year. Don't think I'll ever forget that.
To add to it, I was collecting a shirt from a Reading player that night for my friend's charity auction. Had to wait around an age for him to appear, and all I asked him was how John was. As I said, very glad he was ok. Never want to experience that as a fan again.
Best of luck next season!!
v barnsley five or more years ago as the teams were coming out infront of the away end a man collapsed and had a heart attack a helicopter landed on the pitch and the game was abandoned was mental to see it right infront of your eyes in the away end
My only way of getting tickets for the away playoff game at Fulham in 2017 was in the Home end, but nobody I knew had a purchase history. My sister asked around, as she lived in Ealing at the time, and we ended up using a former colleague's brothers membership, which he had taken out so he could watch Chelsea there.
When I rang up the ticket office pretending to be him, they were immediately suspicious as he hadn't bought a ticket for nearly 10 years, but I got my hands on 4 tickets. On the day, it was clear we weren't the only ones, because when we scored, a few celebrated. When Fulham equalised, it was clear from the lack of celebration that about 1/3rd of our block was Reading.
New years 2005 we were away at Derby, and drew 2-2 with a last minute Shane Long header - his first ever professional goal. I spent most of the game throwing up in the toilets aving caught some bug, and then had to drive home, where I went straight to bed. Ended up with a load of angry texts and voicemails from the girlfriend because she couldn't get hold of me at midnight.
Southampton 2012 on a Friday night, where we overtook them at the top with 3 games to go, I had bagged a ticket but had to work until 5.30 in Henley. Rushed home, rang to the station, made it onto a train that kept pushing back the arrival time. I decided to get off at Eastleigh and get a cab the rest of the way. My cabbie took me to Eastleigh's ground because he was dispatched to 'the football ground'. I made it in 20 minutes late, and we scored not that long after. Glad I made the effort, one of the best away games ever.
A lot of my youth was spent getting to away games by hook or by crook. Car shares with strangers, catching trains at 6am, splitting train tickets to make it affordable, arranging work meetings in convenient places at convenient times, and calling in favours for tickets.
One of them: stag do Friday in Blackpool, decided to stay up, drunk and out all night so that I could watch the Latics at Bloomfield Road, Saturday. Come three pm fast asleep on the terraces woken up by a steward who pointed out that my 'mates' were burning cig holes in my dress shirt and trousers from the night before, Good times..
Oldham away
Best craic ever
https://imgur.com/a/FtFZete <- my video
Honestly thought we be stuck there for a few days and the drive home was *interesting*
We did Carlisle away, last season we were in League Two. My mate decided to drive it both ways the same day. I told him it was a crazy idea and we should probably fly to Newcastle and go from there or something, but no he was determined we were going by car.
He turned up at my house at like 4AM. We got to Carlisle with time for some lunch before heading to the stadium.
The match was good.
Then we started the trip south and to be fair the madlad almost managed it, but he was dangerously close to falling asleep at the wheel on the way home, so I took over the driving just after we hit Birmingham. It was nearly 1AM by the time I'd got back to Fareham.
Insane round trip, but we won so it was all worthwhile.
A fair few. A lot of the guys I know will go for a friday night in Newcastle then head up to Carlisle saturday morning as it cuts out a lot of the slog.
I hate to think how it'd feel going by coach.
Hull away, 2019. In torrential rain and lightning, the coach's windscreen wipers stopped working and he was pressed up against the window, squinting and trying to see out. Had to wait about an hour for a replacement coach at a services. Turned up to the game just as it was kicking off.
Played shit, lost 2-0. What a day.
on the way to wembley semi final, the car broke down. we got towed the rest of the way by a huddersfield fan. he said if i was a stoke fan, he wouldn't have done it. then we lost 5-0
Wycombe Fan Here Sadly,
I live in Plymouth so to get to the final ( the one against Peterborough) I went to Wycombe to visit family. Usually its a 3 ½ hour drive 4 max but this time was different. First there were diversions from the motorway then it seems as if I got food poisoning from breakfast so my stomach was on the verge of collapse. It took me 9 hours due to service station toilet breaks. My throat and ass hurt after that day. Final wasn't even worth it as well.
Exeter City v Wycombe in 2022 carabao cup. I kept on going the wrong way to the stadium, got there 5 minutes before kick off and I left the ticket at home and my phone was dead so I had to buy a ticket in the day but the clerk was taking for ever and I ended up 10 minutes late to kick off. Good thing it was 0-0 and went to penalties.
By far the worst I’ve done was Sheffield Wednesday in a FA Cup 3rd round replay in 2018. We’d drawn at home 0-0 and me and my dad thought we’d go to the replay, living in south Manchester Sheffield is pretty easy to get to as it’s just over the woodhead pass (or snakehead but that’s closed a lot). Fuck me it snowed a lot that day. We were the last car over woodhead and it was not safe to drive, but we got there fine. Lost the game which for a while was shaky if it would carry on because of the snow, but coming out was bad, snow and ice on the roads, cars slipping all over the place. We had to go the long way back because the roads over were closed so we were stuck in slow 1 lane traffic on the M62 all the way back because the rest of the motorway was undrivable. What’s usually a less than an hour journey took us over 3 hours to get back. Also once did Yeovil away for a cup replay, also midweek in January and I don’t think I’ve ever been as cold at a game, dropped to -14 at one point and in replays of the game you can see the pitch freeze over time. We won on penalties but a bit of me still wishes Yeovil had scored their last min penalty they got in the 90 so it would’ve been over.
The fog at home to Ipswich was pretty fun, was sat behind the goal and couldn't see the other end of the pitch or the scoreboard. "South stand, what's the score? South stand south stand what's the score?" Make it 2-1 with a late winner "We can't see you, we can't see you, we can't see you sneaking out!" A good twist on the classic Less fun is after that match we went on a 17 game winless run. Also if not for the fog we probably lose and 3 points less last season is relegation Good memory anyway, there were definitely some other funny chants I've forgot
How did we avoid relegation? I haven't the foggiest idea...
I missed our League Cup semi-final away at City because the police had closed the M6 whilst we were on it, to recover a lorry full of illegal immigrants who had decided to run off into nearby fields.
I was at the Fabrice Muamba match. I don't remember anything about the drive home that evening, we were in a complete daze
Went to Rotherham from Barnsley on boxing Day it was snowing and our car slid down a massive steep hill from the very top to the very bottom missed every car parked on the road somehow and magically stopped at the bottom before we went first into a busy road and then off a 20 foot drop into a field. Brown trousers for everyone involved. Once blagged my way into the NZ Knights v Sydney FC corporate area saying I'd travelled all the way from the UK to watch them play back when Dwight Yorke played for Sydney he didn't play and they still beat the Knights 4-0. I'd travelled from downtown Auckland in reality haha.
Think the craziest I've attended was Sheffield United at home. Tuesday night home game, felt like I'd showed up on the wrong day it was that quiet before kickoff. Only memorable thing from the game was John Fleck collapsing in the 2nd half. Was difficult to watch, it's was like the paramedics were moving in slow motion. Put a damper on the game (I think we lost, the result wasn't particularly important at that point). Thankfully he was ok. Glad he got a standing ovation when we played them the next year. Don't think I'll ever forget that.
Thank you for that God bless John Fleck,even if I want him gone in the summer
To add to it, I was collecting a shirt from a Reading player that night for my friend's charity auction. Had to wait around an age for him to appear, and all I asked him was how John was. As I said, very glad he was ok. Never want to experience that as a fan again. Best of luck next season!!
v barnsley five or more years ago as the teams were coming out infront of the away end a man collapsed and had a heart attack a helicopter landed on the pitch and the game was abandoned was mental to see it right infront of your eyes in the away end
My only way of getting tickets for the away playoff game at Fulham in 2017 was in the Home end, but nobody I knew had a purchase history. My sister asked around, as she lived in Ealing at the time, and we ended up using a former colleague's brothers membership, which he had taken out so he could watch Chelsea there. When I rang up the ticket office pretending to be him, they were immediately suspicious as he hadn't bought a ticket for nearly 10 years, but I got my hands on 4 tickets. On the day, it was clear we weren't the only ones, because when we scored, a few celebrated. When Fulham equalised, it was clear from the lack of celebration that about 1/3rd of our block was Reading. New years 2005 we were away at Derby, and drew 2-2 with a last minute Shane Long header - his first ever professional goal. I spent most of the game throwing up in the toilets aving caught some bug, and then had to drive home, where I went straight to bed. Ended up with a load of angry texts and voicemails from the girlfriend because she couldn't get hold of me at midnight. Southampton 2012 on a Friday night, where we overtook them at the top with 3 games to go, I had bagged a ticket but had to work until 5.30 in Henley. Rushed home, rang to the station, made it onto a train that kept pushing back the arrival time. I decided to get off at Eastleigh and get a cab the rest of the way. My cabbie took me to Eastleigh's ground because he was dispatched to 'the football ground'. I made it in 20 minutes late, and we scored not that long after. Glad I made the effort, one of the best away games ever. A lot of my youth was spent getting to away games by hook or by crook. Car shares with strangers, catching trains at 6am, splitting train tickets to make it affordable, arranging work meetings in convenient places at convenient times, and calling in favours for tickets.
One of them: stag do Friday in Blackpool, decided to stay up, drunk and out all night so that I could watch the Latics at Bloomfield Road, Saturday. Come three pm fast asleep on the terraces woken up by a steward who pointed out that my 'mates' were burning cig holes in my dress shirt and trousers from the night before, Good times..
Oldham away Best craic ever https://imgur.com/a/FtFZete <- my video Honestly thought we be stuck there for a few days and the drive home was *interesting*
We did Carlisle away, last season we were in League Two. My mate decided to drive it both ways the same day. I told him it was a crazy idea and we should probably fly to Newcastle and go from there or something, but no he was determined we were going by car. He turned up at my house at like 4AM. We got to Carlisle with time for some lunch before heading to the stadium. The match was good. Then we started the trip south and to be fair the madlad almost managed it, but he was dangerously close to falling asleep at the wheel on the way home, so I took over the driving just after we hit Birmingham. It was nearly 1AM by the time I'd got back to Fareham. Insane round trip, but we won so it was all worthwhile.
Many other pompey fans make it that day?
A fair few. A lot of the guys I know will go for a friday night in Newcastle then head up to Carlisle saturday morning as it cuts out a lot of the slog. I hate to think how it'd feel going by coach.
Hull away, 2019. In torrential rain and lightning, the coach's windscreen wipers stopped working and he was pressed up against the window, squinting and trying to see out. Had to wait about an hour for a replacement coach at a services. Turned up to the game just as it was kicking off. Played shit, lost 2-0. What a day.
on the way to wembley semi final, the car broke down. we got towed the rest of the way by a huddersfield fan. he said if i was a stoke fan, he wouldn't have done it. then we lost 5-0
Wycombe Fan Here Sadly, I live in Plymouth so to get to the final ( the one against Peterborough) I went to Wycombe to visit family. Usually its a 3 ½ hour drive 4 max but this time was different. First there were diversions from the motorway then it seems as if I got food poisoning from breakfast so my stomach was on the verge of collapse. It took me 9 hours due to service station toilet breaks. My throat and ass hurt after that day. Final wasn't even worth it as well. Exeter City v Wycombe in 2022 carabao cup. I kept on going the wrong way to the stadium, got there 5 minutes before kick off and I left the ticket at home and my phone was dead so I had to buy a ticket in the day but the clerk was taking for ever and I ended up 10 minutes late to kick off. Good thing it was 0-0 and went to penalties.
Craziest this season was the best team in the league losing 4-0 at home against us (again) and all their fans leaving just after half time.
Getting trapped outside at Woking 10 years ago takes the cake for me. Good 1000 of us outside