Foregoing the FF do in the Drayton pub, our party instead undertook a slow walk round the ground. The Emirates is without doubt a mindblowing stadium; modern, clean and large it is a highly impressive arena and with tickets at £50 for the weekend's games it wasn't a bad deal. What we noticed about the home support, though, was that it was a very subdued one, one with a lot of families and tourists which would account for the almost total silence that engulfed the home support for the entire weekend. Families and tourists at the games aren't bad, by the way; but surely it's not beyond expectation for a support within a stadium like that to generate some sort of noise? Having seen Rangers at Highbury in 1997 for the Nigel Winterburn testimonial, it was hard to believe we were actually visiting the same club given the difference in noise levels generated by the home fans at the two games.
After walking round the ground it was decided we would take a trip round the Arsenal museum. All of us in our party are/were of the opinion that this is something Rangers should have and that opinion was strengthened on leaving the Arsenal one. I'm not going to decry anybody's history here - after all, Arsenal are a proud club with a very commendable history - but Rangers could have something that would dwarf the Gunners' one without even trying. On the tour we saw pictures of old, famous players, FA Cup Final tickets from bygone eras, a narrative of the development of the Club and a note of trophies won among other things. Taking our time, we went round it in about 45 minutes. Again, no disrespect is meant to Arsenal but Rangers could and should have something ten times as big. We've got a richer history, a bigger support, have won more trophies and have written ourselves into the social fabric of a people who have settled all over the world. We could have a museum that is a focal point of football all over the world.
Leaving that to one side for the time being, however, we entered the ground about an hour before kick-off and enjoyed a few reasonably priced pints inside the ground - something the authorities in Scotland should look at introducing - before taking our seats. There is no getting away from the fact the Emirates is a breathtaking arena. 60,000 padded seats, each with an uninterrupted view! As a traditionalist I'd be against moving from Ibrox but I'd love it if it cloud be turned into something like this (while retaining the red brick facade of course).
People will have their own ideas on the game and it's impossible to judge anything from a friendly anyway although it's always nice to see Rangers win and the 15,000 Bears in the ground created a tremendous display of noise and colour as PSG were defeated 1-0. Reasonably happy, and not really interested in the second game, our party left the ground hoping to get a drink around the ground but, finding none of the local hostelries were welcoming to Glasgow or South Ayrshire accents, we ended up heading back to our base to enjoy our Saturday night.
The game on the Sunday should have had more edge to it, being a Scotland - England affair; again, though, the only noise and fervour came from the visiting support. Arsenal have a state of the art stadium and a team with cracking young players in it - as we saw all too clearly as they dismantled a Rangers team that couldn't get to grips with them at all - but their support, to put it bluntly, was virtually non-existent during that weekend. It's a shame that things have turned out this way with a number of Clubs in England, with SKY's razzamatazz attracting loads of football groupies who would be more suited to the Superbowl. Of course, we had the obligatory Yahoo with a flag of a country he couldn't find on a map of that country trying to noise up the Bears; to great amusement, though, he was none too ceremoniously turfed out by the 'Old Bill'.
Fully recognising our team was beaten by a far better one, the Bears saluted our players then did their own thing. We headed for our bus home and pulled up outside Rutherglen Orange Halls about 4am on the Monday morning and immediately began to plan for our next trip south.
POMPEY
Heading for work at 4:45am on the Tuesday I was still feeling shattered (old age rapidly setting in!) and a hastily arranged (or begged) Monday off after the Portsmouth game meant I could look forward to it that wee bit more knowing I'd given myself an extra day to recover. (How different to the days when I could bus it back home from Europe following a Rangers game and go to work about two hours after arriving back in Scotland!)
Again, though, the 20 Club in Rutherglen was the assembly point for the Toryglen True Blues before we made our departure at 9pm on the Friday before our game in the far south of England. The fact we could get a right good batter at the beer before we left this time helped the journey no end as most of the bus was asleep by the time we got to Preston! By 6am we had arrived in Portsmouth and - thanks to some good forward planning on behalf of the Toryglen True Blues secretary - at 7am we had to some extent taken over the Mountbatten Leisure Centre with 51 badly hungover and tired Bluenoses refreshing themselves with a much needed wash and swim.
By 8:15 the bus had dropped us off at the ground and so off we trooped looking for any pubs that were open. A Wetherspoon's 15 minutes from the ground was located and, given it opened at 9am, was chosen as the local of the day. However, being the type that likes to do a bit of exploring when in different countries with Rangers, a mate and myself took off to see what was what.
From visiting the different boozers around the ground, there is a real, tangible community feel surrounding Portsmouth FC. Being a one-club city then that's maybe understandable but it restored my faith that there are genuine football fans out there who love their club and will do so for the right reasons no matter how much SKY tries to turn the game into a British version of American football. Most - if not all - the pubs had some emblem of Portsmouth on the walls (think Kilwinning, Bridgeton or Larkhall pubs and Rangers!) and while we were on their turf, so to speak, the home fans were genuinely welcoming and engaged in banter and beer with the travelling support. Portsmouth have their problems just now as a football club but going by the way we were treated by the home support I genuinely hope they can overcome their issues just now.
A taxi into the town took us to the main shopping bit of the city for a quick scout about and, again, the community feel was evident with club colours evident everywhere. (Yes, I know the people wearing them would be going to the game but you can tell from walking around the place the passion people have for their home team.)
A few beers in a pub called The Royal Standard separated the first taxi journey from the one which took us back to the ground and into a boozer which had been commandeered by the Surrey True Blues RSC, noticeable by their brilliantly orange RSC flag which was on display for all to see (including any astronauts in space, I believe). Again, the pub was mixed with the locals mixing with the Bears - but in a friendly way, not in an exhibitionist style adored by the Yahoos and the worst excesses of the Scotland support. It was just football fans in each other's company, sharing a common bond of supporting a team.
Going into the ground, though, was a real eye-opener! From the magnificence of the soul-less Emirates to the 'more old-fashioned' (to put it politely!) but atmospheric Fratton Park in the space of seven days was an eye-opener into the two-tiered world of the Premiership. Arsenal have the stadium; Portsmouth have the passion. A blend of the two would be perfect for any team down there; whether it can be achieved is questionable though.
A roasting hot day saw an awful Rangers team succumb to a 2-0 defeat and while it's never good to see your team lose I suppose the abiding memory for most will be the incredible atmosphere the Rangers support created during the 90 minutes. Out of the 3,000 Rangers fans I would estimate just over half were exiles who stayed in England and they were sure out to make the most of it! From talking to one of the Surrey True Blues, it was clear they were ecstatic that Rangers had played 3 games in southern England in less than a week and, boy - didn't they just let Rangers know how much they loved their Club! The game ended with both sets of fans applauding each other out the ground, some lucky Rangers fans to enjoy the hospitality of the locals, some of us with a bus journey back to Scotland to look forward to.
At the beginning, the word 'paradox' was mentioned. Arsenal and Portsmouth certainly provided a few. Both have good and bad about them. As mentioned, Arsenal, being one of the upper tier in England, have a wonderful area but one which is essentially soul-less. Having been a keen reader of fanzines from all over Britain for a number of years, it's become evident that a number of the bigger clubs in England have isolated themselves from their genuine, hard-core, working class support and have replaced them with bandwagon jumpers, only interested because of the next superstar they will be signing. Of course, not all Arsenal fans fit into that bracket and they do have a core of loyal and true supporters; unfortunately you'd never realise it from a visit to their magnificent stadium.
Portsmouth, on the other hand, obviously have kept touch with their support; or at least haven't isolated them into staying away. I've seen Rangers in a number of places in England, in places which we are told are hotbeds of football fanaticism. The passion I witnessed in Portsmouth the home fans have for their club is as intense as anything Merseyside or the north-east has to offer; unfortunately their club is in a mess with talk of administration surrounding them.
What the trip proved is that, for all its glamour and money and superstars, the Premiership in England has its problems. The rich are getting richer, the gap between them and the rest is getting bigger and yet clubs at either end of the spectrum have problems - albeit of a far different nature.
When all is said and done, it was good to follow Rangers to these places and it's hoped we can get similar excursions at the start of next season. And even though it was a tired and weary bunch of travellers who disembarked from the Toryglen bus at 4am on the Sunday morning, we'd do it all again tomorrow. As for yours truly, well I certainly enjoyed the Monday off as well!
Yours in Rangers,
Ayrshire Billy Boy