(Ground
number 290)
Date of
First Visit: 23rd August 2012
Municipul
Stadium of Peristeri, Athens, Greece
Atromitos
1
Newcastle
United 1 (Ryan Taylor)
Europa
League 4th Rd qualifying 1st leg
Attendance:
4,872 or! 5,002? (90 Toon fans---‘The Bear’ counted them!) (plus 200 or so
watchin’ from their balconies!---(AND a doggie waalkin’ roond the terraces!)
“100 IN
A ROW!”—(Whey!---IF yi include the Anglo-Italian Cup---like!)
The epic
and lang jorney to Athens began @ presiceleee ‘7:30am bells’ from wor hoose to
the bus stop some 100 yards distant on the Wednesday mornin’!
Then it
waz a 10 minute ride to ‘The Central’ to catch wor train to King’s Cross---then
another train to Gatwick Airport and finally the flight to Athens (followed by
an hours lang tube ride to the city centre where wor hotel waz situated!) where
we arrived some 12 hours after leavin’ Tyneside!
There
were three of us (The Three Magpieteers’!) namely, ‘Mal the Inglish Skoool
Teechaa’<(hiz spellin’---NOT mine!) ‘The Caped Crusader’ and of course ME!
‘The mad-sad groundhopper’!
The
temperature waz ower the 100 mark az we dumped wor bags in the Hotel Arethusa
and we heeded for the forst ‘liquid refreshment stop’ ower the road. At
NINETEEN AND A HALF EUROS for two beers and a vodka and coke it wasn’t f*****
cheap! (aboot SEVENTEEN QUID in English money!)
A few
more expensive ‘liquid stops’ later and we eventually retired for the evenin’!---”ZZZZZzzzzz!!!!!!”
Next day
it waz even hotter and az the match didn’t kick off til ‘8 bells’we had aall
day to sample the ‘delights’ of Athens, makin’ sure to keep well oot of the
sun’s rays az we didn’t want to get bornt to death!
It waz
then onward to the groond which waz situated in the western suburbs of the
capital. The groond waz just wot we expected (a dump!) and on three sides the
people of the high rise villas had an uninterrupted view of the proccedins from
their roof terraces and balconies! (estimated 200 freebeez!)
Dan
Gosling touched the baall forst az we kicked off towards the end where the Toon
fans were hoosed behind a runnin’ track and this meant that aa nuw had seen The
Toon play in 100 consecutive European club competition games ‘in a row’,
stretchin’ way back to 1977! (er!---this includes six games in the
Anglo-Italian Cup az well---like!)
However!---things
didn’t start off well and the home side were oot of their blocks quicker than
we were and they took the lead when Epstein hit a low shot past Steve harper in
The Toon goal
The
equaliser came deep into injury time when Gosling was fouled and from 25 yards
oot Ryan Taylor (who else!?) hit one of hiz famous free kick ‘screamers’ ‘ower
the waall’ and into the back of the net, givin’ the Atromitos keeper ‘ne
chance’ and send the 90 Toon faithful into joyous celebrations!
 |
| "RYAN TAYLOR---OWER THE WAALL!" |
Marveaux
the magician, Kuqi and Obertan then had chances to score in the 2nd
period, but couldn’t find the back of the net and we had to settle for a ‘ones
each draw’to take to the 2nd leg @ St James’ a week later.
The anly
other action of note waz a gadgie at the far end from us waalkin’ hiz dog
aroond the terraces! (aye!---there waz plenty of room!)
“IT’S
OFF THE HOOK!”
Next day
it waz then the prospect of a torturous jorney back to London (Heathrow this
time!--- via Romania!) for wor game against Chelski @ Stamford Bridge on the
Saturday, after just fower hours kip in The Hotel Arethusa (aye!---we’d stopped
on ‘the drink’ for a canny while after the match!)
On
arrival at Athens Airport ‘The Caped Crusader’ started feelin’ hiz pockets
lookin’ for sommik?
“Wot
have yi lost?” aa said az me and Mal looked at each other with raised eyebrows!
“AV LOST
MEE PHONE AGAIN!” came the reply from ‘TCC’ (he’d lost it previously on one of
wor pre season trips!)
He
thought he’d left it in wor room at the hotel, but it waz too late to gan back
and aall looked lost until ‘yours truly’ had a ‘brainwave’!
“It
might be in your bag so we’ll give you a ring!”---with the bag held closelee we
listened for the ring tone but there waz none---just the engaged tone!
Brainwave
number TWO then came to me! (or shud that be brainWARP?)
“Blondie
Alan the Morris Dancer<(there’s NE hidin’ place from ‘The Geordie Times’,
Blondie---yiv been ‘outed’!”) Er!---aall start again!---“Blondie Alan the
Morris Dancer doesn’t fly back til tomorrow mornin’!---Hiz hotel iz anly three
miles from wors so why don’t aa text him to gan to wor hotel and ask them to
sorch wor room!?”
This
brought nods of approval from ‘The Caped Crusader’ and Mal, so aa text him the
name and address of where we were stayin’ and asked him if he could de TCC a
big favour and gan oot of hiz way to wor hotel.
It waz
then time to catch wor flight to Romania and then onward to London so aa switched
mee ‘tellin bone’ off on the flight and waited til we got to Bucharest Airport
before lookin’ at mee text messages again.
There
waz devastatin’ news for TCC however, az Blondie’s text read: ‘They’ve sorched
the room but cannit find it!’
“The
chambermaid haz probably ‘half inched it’, aa said and he resigned himsel to
the fact that he would have to buy a new one!
Anyway!---we
had SEVEN HOURS to kill before wor onward flight to Heathrow so we did az many
of the airports bars az we could find (THREE!)
At
fifteen Euros a roond it wasn’t cheap and we ended up spendin’ ower £110
between us on ‘the hootch’!
Then it
waz onward to England and we
(eventually!) arrived at wor hotel in Swiss Cottage (London) aroond aboot 17
hours after leavin’ wor hotel in Athens @ ’11:30pm bells’! (who would be a Toon
fan!?)
‘Az ‘The
Caped Crusader’ unpacked hiz bag in the hotel room a shout went up from him!
“GUESS
WOT A’V FOOND?” he said, az he held it up in hiz hand!---AYE! That’s reet!---It
waz hiz F***** PHONE! which somehow had slipped to the bottom of his bag! (YI
COULDN’T MAKE IT UP!)
Next day
it waz off to the Chelski game at Stamford Bridge where a grovellin’ apology to
‘Blondie Alan the Morris Dancer’ was made by ‘yee naa who’!
‘Blondie’
waz NOT amused! (but he did see the funny side!)
©Fink™(the mad-sad grJundhJpper!)
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