Ground number 337
Date of First Visit: 28th July 2018
Estadio Dragoa, Porto, Portugal
FC Porto 0
Newcastle United 0
Friendly fixture
Attendance: 43,829 (400/500 Toon fans)
"INTO THE DRAGONS DEN!"
*(I will update this trip to Portugal periodically!)⬅(we naa aall the BIG words!😨)
Friday mornin':
A great start to the day!--- wor train to King's Cross at '7:05am bells' woz CANCELLED!
But aall torned oot well az we jumped onto the train which left at '6:55am bells' az the ticket gadgie said we could! (Wor fight to Portugal iz from London City airport)
There were black storm clouds by the time we reached York and were lucky to get through az just half an hour later there woz a lightnin' strike on the owerheed power lines and aall trains after wors came to a grindin' halt!
2 train/tube rides later and we were in Canning Town. We waalked alang Barking Road and eventually we foond a waaterin hole caalled The Princess Alexandra---- and then we moved onwards to The Travelodge bar near London City airport!
The Princess Alexandra, Canning Town, London (bar 1)
Travelodge, near airport (bar 2)
*After a quick pint in Travelodge we went to London City airport!
I got my 'eyes taken out' when aa bought a pint of coast to coast at!---(wait for it!-)--
£6:35!😨
London City airport 'Ripoff' Bar! (bar 3)
On arrival in Porto we heeded for theeze liquid lubrication locations after dumpin wor bags in the hotel!
Bar 4
Bar 5
Colonel 'THE HAT' and Mal 'the Inglish skoool teechaa' (Tavernia bar)
Bar 6
(Bar 7) More 'tourist attractions' later!
*Saturday morning
its 'chuckin oot time' in Porto (1:00am bells')
More to follow on match day
MATCH DAY
Bar 8 near Boavistas groond
(where the red sign in the distance iz on the side of a stand)
Forst of aall apologeez for not updatin more often but my mobile data wont work in Portugal for some reason?
Next update will be when the match iz ower and I am back in the hotel where I can use their wi fi!
Tourist attractions next day!
We went to see Boavista's groond in the suburbs of Porto and of course stopped off for some thirst quenshin'!
At Bar Guindalense below, where I used their wi-fi!
MAGnificent views of the 'Tyne Bridge'
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"ROOM WITH A VIEW!" (1)
Bar Gundalense (Bar 9)
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Bar 10
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| Bar 11 |
THE MATCH
Porto XXIII v The Toon XXI
"INTO THE DRAGONS DEN!"
The less said aboot this performance the better! We simply didnt play and were very lucky to come away with a 0-0 draw as Porto were the much better team, hittin the woodwork twice and havin shots saved by wor 2 keepers (who were on the pitch at seperate times!)
In total 21 players were used which seems to be the normal practice theeze days for NUFC in friendly matches! ---While Porto bettered this by usin 23 in total (that's 44 players used in ONE game---(farcical!)
We were very poor with ne shots on target in the entire game, az a mixture of forst team, resorve team and junior team players couldn't get oot of forst gear and I spent half the time watchin' the traffic on the nearby road az 'Sarnie Steve' watched a darts match on hiz mobile!----It woz THAT good!!!
The Estadio Dragoa iz a much bigger version of Brighton's Amex Stadium and woz canny full
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| Spot the netting! |
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| Some of the 400/500 Toon fans |
"THEEZE BOOTS WERE MADE FOR WALKING!"
Many hilarious things happened includin one of the lads who shall remain nameless called 'Dave from York' gettin hiz shoes nicked at Luton airport and havin to wear the person who nicked them's shoes!--- which were a size too big!
Dave had travelled ower via Luton airport and woz told to take hiz shoes off to gan through the airport scanner, which he did!
When he tried to retreeve hiz shoes at the othaa end, instead of hiz immaculate brand new trainers, aall that woz left woz a pair of tatty old ones!
He had nee choice but to put them on az somebody had nicked hiz and 'done a runner'! (sic!)
We were in stitches and howlin' with laughter when he appeared ootside the groond!
YOO SURELY COULDNT 'MAKE THIS ONE' UP!
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Aaltogether now!:
"2nd hand shooooz!---2nd hand shoo-oo-ooozzz!"
"SARNIE STEVE'S SARNIES SNATCHED!"
One of wor number known az 'Sarnie Steve', because he aalways brings sarnies to the match to eat at half time, woz stopped at the entrance to the away section and had hiz Tesco's carrier bag searched!
The security staff told him in ne uncertain torms that he couldn't bring hiz sarnies in and az Theeze 'Geordie Times' exclusive photos show from the concourse above, he woz forced to hoy them away in a bin!
Sarnie Steve iz in the white shirt and beanie hat!
Toon team: (deep breath!)
Dubravka, Yedlin, Clark, Lascelles, Dummett, Murphy, Diame, Shelvey, Ritchie, Joselu, Perez, Manquillo, Sterry, Schar, Sung-yueng, Darlow, Atsu, Hayden, Langstaff, Armstrong, Roberts |
(Much more on this and othaa things that happened when aa get back az my mobile data wont work away from the hotel for some reason---and I'm NOT gannin to sit in the hotel aall day dein this report!)
The post match tourist attractions included 2 bottles of hooch in a BUTCHERS SHOP! (Honest!)
This woz because we got off at the wrang tram stop where there were nee bars to be seen anywhere!
In desperation we went into a Butchers shop which actually sold bottles of beer!
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| THE PORK BUTCHERS! (Bar 12) |
Bar 13
Like aa say--watch this space tomorrow neet and for more updates!
PORTO ON SUNDAY
2nd visit!
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| Bar 14 |
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| Bar 15 |
Bar 16
Bar 16 ROOM WITH A VIEW! (2)
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| Bar 17 |
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| Bar 18 |
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| Bar 19 |
MUNDAY
It woz time come yem on Munday and we left the hotel at '9:00am bells' and caught 2 trams to Porto airport and then onwards to London on 2 more trains and after a stopover for 'elevenses' (see below!) it off to Kings Cross to catch the '6:00pm bells' train back to Tyneside.
We arrived back at '9:05pm bells' after the 12 hour jawnee, exausted and p*ssed off with the teams performance!
LONDON CALLING! (again!)
We managed to 'fit in' 3 more 'liquid lubrication locations' before heedin home!
Bringin a grand total of 23 'tourist attractions' on the 4 day sorte!
Porto airport bar (Bar 20)
St Pancras, London (Bar 21)
Near St Pancras (Bar 22)
Near Kings Cross, London (23rd and last bar on the grand tour!)
DAVE FROM YORK's FAVOURITE DRINKIN DEN!
'Its '11:00pm bells' az I write this and I'm off to get some much needed 'shut-eye' soon!
Goodneet!
"ZZZzzzzzz!!!!"😴
