(GROUND NUMBER 272)
Date of First Visit: 13th
SEPTEMBER 2009
CARDIFF CITY STADIUM, CARDIFF, WALES
CARDIFF CITY 0
NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 (Colloccini)
CHAMPIONSHIP
Attendance: 25,630 (record) (includin’
2,000 Toon fans)
“TUNNEL VISION!”
It was impossible to get the train doon on
the day of the game and mek the kick off as it was a 2 bells Sunday start for
the telly (surprize---surprizzzze!) so we opted to fly instead on the Saturday
mornin’ and aa arrived at Toon airport in plenty of time for a few ‘gargels’ in
the airport bars.
The friendly barmaid asked where aa was
heedin’ for and aa telt hor aa was flyin’ to Bristol.
‘The Caped Crusader’ then made his entrance
and aa asked him wot time the flight to Bristol
was. He looked at me with incredulity◄(wot ever that meens?) and then replied “Wih not flyin’ to
Bristol---wih flyin’ to Cardiff and then back from Bristol coz that’s the anly way we can de it!” (az yi can
probably guess----aa did’nt book the
flights!)
After a couple of more gargles, ‘Big Al’, (not! the sheet metal workers son!) ‘Sarnie
Steve’, ‘Jimmy the Gaffer’, Russ’ and ‘Mal from Durham’ torned up and it time to catch wor
flight to the Welsh capital.
Wor digs were in Bristol so on arrival at
Cardiff Airport it was off on a bus to central Cardiff and then a train to ‘yee
naa where’ via the Severn tunnel (the bus jorney took an hour which was
actually langer than the flight!)
“MANCHESTER U’re JOKIN’!”
Some of the ‘very sad groundhoppers’
amongst us decided to get off the train at Newport to take in a game and add to
their ‘non Newcastle groundhoppin’ records’,while the rest of us heeded for
Bristol to dump wor bags at the hotel and gan ‘on the hoy’! (aa refuse to gan
to any new groond unless The Toon or mee local club Dunston Fed are playin’!)
After much street wanderin’ we eventually
foond a boozer and settled doon for a few ‘liquids’ as Spurs were playin’ Man U
in the teatime game on Sky.
The bar was canny full as the match kicked
off and within a few minutes Spurs scored to a muffled cheer from a handful of
the punters. However!!!---when Man U equalised a huge ‘gloryhuntin’ roar
enveloped the pub and for a moment aa thought aa was in central Manchester and not central Bristol!!!---it was unreal!---is it any wonder
that Bristol Rovers and City have such poor support for the size of the place (Bristol is aboot twice the size of Newcastle)
when the locals jump on the Manchester
gravy train! (ne wonder they’re hated so much!)
Anyway!—the Mancs won 3-1 (much to the
delight of the Bristolians!) and we ended up dein a ‘toby’ aroond the rest of
the bars for the neet time session after joinin’ up again with the ‘hoppers’
who had visited Newport Coonty’s groond.
Next day was match day of course and after
a rather large ‘help yersel buffet breakfast’ in the hotel (well TWO
actually!---as aa was feelin’ a bit peckish!) it was back to the station roond
the corner from the hotel to catch the orly train back to Cardiff via the
Severn tunnel again.
Cardiff fans of course do have a reputation
and we did’nt naa wot to expect when we arrived there so it was a pleasent
surprise to find that there was ne hassle as we heeded for the forst waaterin’
hole not far from the station. (another reason was that there were a canny few
radgy Toon fans knockin’ aboot and locals mustn’t have ‘fancied it’!)
A few gargles later and it was time to hail
a black cab and heed for the stadium which was a fair hike away. (a twenty
minute waalk!)
The spankin’new groond was within hocklin’
distance of their aad ‘shabby’ Ninian
Park groond which was
just ‘ower the road’ across a tree lined park. The aad groond was yet to be
bulldozed and was still standin’, albeit with a few windows smashed and tiles
missin’ from the main stand roof (soon
to be torned into a hoosin’ estate we were telt)
The stadium predictably was the same sort
of design as many of the new’ins, although to be fair it did have plenty of
room inside the concourses and the ‘tool-sheds’ were big enough to accommodate
the ‘Toon Army weak bladder brigade’, unlike some of the other nettys where you
are crammed in like sardines and end up ‘havin’ an impromptu ‘slash’ on someones ‘skeets’ who is standin’ next
to you!.
The Toon had a followin’ of 2,000 in the
‘alleged’ selloot crowd, but!--- there were plenty of empty
seats in the main stand opposite us as the game kicked off? which brought the
predictable ‘empty seats’ chants from wor lot
The Toon started off at a roarin’ pace and
this paid off in the 18th minute when lone striker er! ‘The Lone Ranger’ heeded a cross
back across the goal to Ryan Taylor who then lobbed the baall to Coloccini who
in torn heeded an unstoppable effort past the ootstreched Marshall
in the Cardiff
goal to give us the lead. It was the Argentineans forst goal in 43 starts and
did’nt he celebrate!---(and so did we of course!)
This was the way it stayed till half time
and in the second period the home side tried in vain to hit back but we battled
away and held on to take the 3 points. That was 5 wins on the bounce and 5
clean sheets as well, which was a new club record. (well done lads!)
The anly sour point was the sendin’ off of
Alan Smith deep into injury time for a second bookable offence, but it was a
happy Toon Army who left at the end of the game.
We then made wor way back to the station to
catch the train back to Bristol
(again!) and heed through wor ‘fave
tunnel’ for the thord and last time.
After a few ‘liquid lubrications’ in the
city centre it was time to heed for Bristol Airport to catch the flight back yem at ‘nine bells’
A Toon fan caalled ‘Scud’ who was on the
same flight as us, telt us that the Cardiff fans could’nt believe that the Toon fans had waalked
aboot in their black n white tops, as ne away fans dared de that for fear of
bein’ ambushed. ‘Scuds’ answer was short and straight to the point---“We’re
Geordies mannn!”, he replied
to the bemused Welshman!
Footnote:
Aa later foond oot that the reason the main
stand had unsold seats was because Cardiff
were chargin’ £ 65 to sit in them!
©Fink™ (the
mad-sad gr☺undh☺pper!)
