The Tuesday evening flight from Prestwick was something of a surprise in itself as it contained a fair number of England fans who had driven up from places in the north-east and north-west of England to fly to Barcelona. The ones we introduced ourselves as Rangers fans to were all happy to talk football issues, a common ground of supporting a football team providing common ground. On arrival at Barcelona Reus airport a fair number of them departed for the holiday resort of Salou while the remainder were on the bus from the airport into Barcelona City Centre.
Even though we never arrived in the City Centre until close to midnight there were still hundreds of England fans roaming the street. Without getting hysterical the atmosphere was pretty unpleasant in bits with a tangible tension hanging in the air. It does go to show that the England fans, while having made enormous strides, do have some obstacles to overcome although this should not detract from the fact that over 15,000 were in Barcelona and it was only a few hundred who looked very much as if they were looking for trouble. As it turned out there was a fight later on at night with - apparently - some Sunderland fans launching an attack on some Middlesborough ones. In a perfect example of self-policing, though, and according to the FSF reps we spoke to, those who started the trouble were ostracised from the main body of the support and that was the last instance of any trouble involving the fans that we were aware of. In effect, it was a storm in a teacup and shows the direction the England support is moving in.
As documented in the accompanying report the afternoon of the game was spent in the company of the FSF reps although it was highly interesting to witness the travelling English support first hand. One striking example is the amount of couples and kids who make up the English support abroad. From talking to some it appears this is a growing feature of the England away games. One thing that can also be put to rest is that notion people elsewhere have that the England support is an arrogant one who expects their team to win every game they play. In fact, the England fans we spoke to were the epitome of self-deprecating humour about how bad their team currently is with none of them confident the team is on the brink of achieving anything in the near future.
Having been abroad with Rangers on dozens of occasions there were some similarities on show, namely the fact that the bars in the town were filled within minutes of them opening! Andorran TV was making a news bulletin about the travelling support at 10am and the first question the interviewer led with in a Q&A session with an Englishman was: "Why are you drinking at this time in the morning?" Whether the answer was, "The pub wasn't open any earlier" was given we can't say but it exemplified the relaxed and friendly mood among the fans as they relaxed in the hours prior to the game kicking off. What was also evident among the England support was the definite lack of supporter representation from what you would call the 'bigger' teams. There were plenty of St George's Crosses on show, each displaying the team of the people carrying it. The teams, though, in the main seemed to be of teams in the lower reaches of the English leagues such as Bristol City, Nottingham Forest, Millwall and Leyton Orient although there were instances of Everton, Aston Villa and Spurs although they appeared to be the exception rather than the rule.
Arriving at 2pm the home of Espanyol where the game was taking place, we encountered elements of the section of the English support who had travelled independently without tickets. As work was going on in the stadium no ends behind the goal were open; just the stands along the sides of the pitch. The stand across from the dugout had been allocated for the 10,000 who had registered with the FA while the opposite one had - rather amusingly - been set aside for a potential travelling support of 9,000 from Andorra! Obviously these were being snapped up by independent England fans who were indulging in the very British activity of queuing in the rain as they patiently waited for siesta time to end at 4pm which was when the ticket office was due to open.
Having purchased our own tickets your intrepid reporters made their way back to La Ramblas area to kill a couple of hours before heading back to the game, taking full advantage of the marvellous subway system in operation in Barcelona. On the way back to the stadium everybody was relaxed and in good humour. It was very noticeable that the police presence down a road to the stadium from the subway station a similar distance from the compound to the ground in Osasuna was non-existent compared to what the Rangers support had to put up with recently. The reasons for this are unclear. Maybe it was due in this instance to the total lack of a travelling support or whether they viewed us as a bigger risk is up for debate. The blunt fact is, though, a support with a far worse reputation than our was allowed to walk uninhibited to the ground while we as Rangers fans were subjected to two totally indiscriminate and unwarranted baton attacks by the police and answers why this is the case must be sought.
Arriving at the ground was an education in itself as well. Far from being the disorganised shambles Pamplona was, Espanyol's stadium was thoroughly signposted with clear, unambiguous diagrams of the ground directing ticket-holders to the relevant section of the stadium. Entrance to the ground was a lot easier and relaxed in a policing sense as well.
Taking our seats in the very back row of the upper tier - having finally worked out the confusing seating system whereby odd and even numbered seats are in different sections! - we were given a tremendous view of the game and the rest of the stadium. (Not to mention a stunning view of the city including Gaudi's Cathedral).
Very little of note actually happened on the pitch. In short, the game was dreadful, truly, utterly dreadful. It was something unique to watch a game of football where one team has no interest in winning the game while one has now idea how to. From a personal point of view it was the first time I'd had the opportunity to see the big English names from the Premiership live in a competitive game but they struggled horrendously against a team who hardly had the ingenuity to mount an attack that crossed the halfway line. Rooney in particular was virtually anonymous although in a situation resembling the Ferguson / Le Guen scenario of January this year, following a highly publicised bust-up between Rooney and his manager, the fans were almost totally on the side of the player, his name receiving the loudest roar of the eleven that were read out.
One thing that was noticeable was the incredible amount of vitriol that was aimed at the England manager by the travelling fans. Every manager at some point or another gets stick from his own crowd but it must surely be a unique case when over 10,000 fans are in unison accusing their own team's manager of being a skilled practitioner in the art of self abuse in a song normally reserved for a particularly odious opposition player.
As half time drew closer and England showing very little sign of being able to break down the Andorra defence the level of abuse grew with Stewart Downing in particular on the receiving end as many England fans saw his inclusion as an act of favouritism on the part of the manager they didn't want. The minutes leading up to the interval brought several choruses of 'You're not fit to wear the shirt', 'What a load of rubbish' and - possibly the ultimate insult given it was aimed at their own team - 'Are you Scotland in disguise?'
England finally made the breakthrough in the second half and calmed the vitriol to a certain extent although the manager wasn't spared in the way the team were. There never was any doubt England were going to win but it must have been a source of utter frustration it took them until close on an hour to get the first goal that set them on the path to victory.
The two Scots in the crowd became part of the English subway loyal on 88 minutes, having had enough of the terrible game, bitterly cold night, biting wind and torrential rain so missed David Nugent's goal. The same can be said of plenty of English day-trippers who flew into Spain expecting Spanish weather - and being dressed accordingly in shorts and t-shirts - but being greeted by a climate more suited to December in Glasgow.
As far as we had seen the day of the game had passed without any incident at all. Certainly the England fans had done little to merit any comments out of the ordinary. Sadly, in a crowded subway station after the game, the Spanish police took it upon themselves to draw batons and lash out for very little, if anything other than a fear of too many foreigners being crammed into the same small space. It was all over in less than 30 seconds but was enough to scare some folk out of the subway station and into making their own way back through the city.
Arriving back in the La Ramblas area close to midnight the bars were already filling up with England fans who were in a much better humour than they were in during the game. Again, very little of note happened and the night passed without incident.
From a Scottish perspective it was an educational experience to witness first-hand the developments in a support that has had a horrific reputation for years. What is also interesting is the amount of English nationalism (small 'n') that is on show. There were hardly any Union Flags unless they were part of the sporadic display of Navy Ensigns and there were loads of impressive looking tattoos depicting St George and the like. Apart from a brief example of their own team being worse than the Scottish one, the English people we encountered seemed to have grasped the concept of having pride in their own background without feeling the need to mention their perceived antithesis. Given that there were two Scots in their midst the travelling English people we spoke to were happy to talk football and asked plenty of questions of their own as to why we were there. There was no hostility evident at all and in general, barring one or two unwelcome examples, it was a rewarding experience.
My own reasoning for undertaking the trip was to hopefully pick up some ideas and contacts that could be useful to implement in Rangers' future trips abroad. As a Scot who has very little interest in the national footballing scene it was nonetheless highly informative to see how a large travelling support can manage itself abroad and organise itself to the extent self-policing does become a noticeable factor.
Nobody is claiming that the Rangers support is a time-bomb ready to erupt but given that we are probably in a unique position within football given our own country's Establishment wants us eliminated it was without doubt a worthwhile exercise to undertake that trip and see how things can be made so much more difficult for our enemies if the Club and fans work together on initiatives.
Rangers First and Forever.
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