Auxerre football club or AJA are a well known club in Europe and despite the usual ups and downs they've always been regulars to Euro competitions for years.
When Rangers were drawn to play AJA in the Uefa cup group stage I was eager to go and check them out as my club Juventus - despite playing many a French team over the years (Nantes, PSG to name but a few) have never faced them.
To me Auxerre have always meant football since players like keeper Joel Bats and defender Basile Boli were their stars twenty years ago but what about the city ?
After spending the night before the game in Paris, I took a train early in the morning from the Bercy station.
As expected the train was packed with bears who had opted to spend the night in Paris and enjoy its 'nightlife'.
Auxerre is a small town on the banks of the river Yonne whose centre is a maze of narrow medieval streets leading to the main square, place de cordoliers and its big gothic cathedral, I was really taken aback as I didn't expect it to be so nice and different from Italy. For sure it's much better than Livorno, a place where bars and restaurants close at ten in the evening (is that Italy ??)!
While waiting for my friends - Big Robie and the Louden Tavern guys - who were on their way to Auxerre from Reims where they had stayed the previous night I stopped for a few pre-match drinks at a bar on the Cordoliers square where the Edinburgh Loyal guys were already celebrating and partying big style.
Now what I like about Rangers in Europe it's the relaxed atmosphere that characterizes each game: you meet a lot of great guys and you have a great time chatting about football.
It's always big fun and the Edinburgh guys were really friendly.
I still wonder how Rangers can have a bad reputation at away games, I've always had a good time with Rangers. I understand that every club has its own troublemakers but Rangers for sure are no worse than others and I have to point out that to me Rangers fans are better than many others.
Rangers are a club with a Protestant tradition whose fans are proud of and that deserves respect. Uefa cant object to that if they tolerate clubs like Bilbao which sign only Basque-born players or Celtic with all their ra connections. I don't like this double-standard attitude, it's hypocritical. Football is not only a game, it's not a rock-star like circus an it will never be, football reflects the culture and traditions of the places the clubs are from, that's why it's so deeply rooted in popular culture.
After joining the Louden Tavern guys we moved to another bar nearby the stadium where I went on with my drinking session based on 1664 beer, not that bad, and finally with my head spinning a little bit, we headed for the stadium. As we approached the stadium it started raining but this time, unlike Livorno, the stadium was roofed.
The ground is a small English style stadium with no athletic track, so the view was great. Most of the stadium was decked with Union Jacks and Rangers SC banners.
Now, I was told that in Scotland it was difficult to get tickets for tonight's game but the stadium as the teams went into the pitch was half full with the Rangers contingent filling most of the stands in the whole ground. Many guys who had travelled without tickets told me that they were available for the away support directly at the ground no problem despite Rangers had sent back part of their allocation.
Very strange given the high demand from Rangers fans for this game.
Rangers as it often happens in Europe, played a good game and deservedly equalised with a handful of minutes to the end.
What I like about Rangers in Europe is that they don't give up till the end, I cant believe their performances are so poor in the Scottish league.
This result means that Rangers euro campaign will continue and so the excitement of visiting new places and meeting new people so we were jubilant at the final whistle.
In the end another good trip abroad following Rangers.
Finally about this trip I would like to mention once again the Edinburgh Loyal guys, Big Robie and the Louden Tavern guys and last but not least Big Johnson who I had no longer seen since the Newcastle tournament (what a day!).
See you soon WE ARE THE PEOPLE !!
Fabrizio