The
Day We Went to VaasaThe
Day We Went to VaasaWelcome to the diary of a Euro trip as the Temple of Saints takes you behind the scenes of the official trip to Vaasa and Saints return to Europe for the first time in 28 years. After all the emotion of last May and the problems of explaining to other halves that it'll be a cheap summer holiday so we can blow a fortune in a 48 hour period in August, the time had finally come. For those of you that were there I hope the photos and anecdotes on the next few pages bring back some happy memories. For the rest that missed out a piece of advice if we win the return leg - no matter what the expense or hassle don't miss out on the next trip. Right on with the tale.......
Wednesday
6.30am - After getting up in the middle of the night it was time for
myself and my better half (who for some reason wants to be called the High
Priestess from now on) to head on up to McD for the bus to the airport. So
strips (3) packed, T-Shirts (2) printed, scarves, rosettes and flags at
the ready it was get an early taxi to the ground. Which meant that we
arrived at McD for 6.30am to find only 3 or 4 others and a BBC
cameraman waiting - we turn down the offer of being filmed (and
sometimes I wish I'd stuck to that for the rest of the trip). This was
about the only time when I vaguely considered whether or not it was all
going to be worthwhile.
6.45am - As more and more hearty souls appear it's starting to
look like the trip might be busy. Stewart Duff turns up and sets the
burglar alarm off at the ground. Well we just think of it as an alarm call
to waken us up. The Saints chief exec reappears with the bundle of white
envelopes containing the match tickets. To pass the time waiting on the
bus, we get a decent laugh reading the conditions - i.e. "No
chains, guns, knives, batteries, sticks, bombs" allowed etc. etc.
etc. No wonder Duracell don't sponsor any teams.
7.00am - 2 buses turn up and we get on board. Strangely no sign of
the players yet but their bus is being loaded with plenty of bottles of
water. Ach maybe we'll see them at the airport.
8.15am - Turn up at Edinburgh Airport and meet up with Martin.
With the Saints check-in still closed we head on through to the newsagents
to get the papers. Sod all of any interest so its back to check-in and see
the reps looking slightly worried at the number of kilted Saintees doing
the rounds. Nice to see our charming friends in the media get their own
check-in and it gives us a chance to spot the famous media personality
who'll be covering the game. Well apart from Gordon Bannerman
theres no Chics, Bills, Shugs or even Bobs. Still Euan Smith turns
up from the Sun looking fatter than ever though it's nice to see the acnes
cleared up. Oh yeah and somebody called Cosgrove turns up as well. No
singing yet.
Finish
checking-in and it's time to head to the duty-free with some relief that
we can see the players starting to arrive. The BBC boy is still with us
and as the supporters settle down for coffee and rolls for breakfast yours
truly gets caught on camera having the first beer of the day (well
airports have a dry atmosphere dont you know). A quick chance to check
round the duty-free as the players come through. Main heads in
first and we all await the inevitable dropped bottle of perfume - luckily
he decides against risking handling anything (so no change there). With
the players coming through it's a chance to check out what the squad is
and who's fit. Both Legend and the Karaoke King make it.
10.00am - Time to make the trip on the buses to the plane. Fail to
catch any gossip from the players. Theres a strange air of nervousness and
quiet about the supporters. Half an hour later we're in the air and
watching Cap'n Jim turn greener and greener. Most of the flight is
pretty subdued but after an hour or so the directors start working round
and mingling a bit with the support - including a nice denial of the Andy
Smith story in the Sun.
Best part was every single cockpit announcement by the pilot "Welcome
on board this flight to ".........long pause....."Vaasa".
You almost believed he didn't know where he was going.
3.00pm - Land at a cloudy and wet Vaasa airport (so maybe he
did). Get the luggage and get herded onto a couple of buses for the trip
to the Radisson. The players and officials are staying at the
Tropiclandia. The bus trip gives us a chance to start unwinding and the
banter amongst the supporters gets underway (various cries of "Wheres
the burdz" etc.). First impressions of Finland are that it's flat
and has lots of trees. The trip into town sees us pass the VPS ground
which looks like a neat modern stadium if lacking in any sort of cover on
3 sides. The trip through the town centre and we spot our first Saintees.
Arrival at the hotel and we're dished out the keys - this involved a
lengthy process of the poor guy on reception having to master the
pronounciation of Scottish names to a bunch of fans who had spotted the
pub over the road - in fact the first lot had headed off to wet their
tonsils whilst waiting on the rest of us to check in. Suffice to say O'Malleys
never knew what hit it.
4.15pm
- Checked in, changed into the limited edition (ie 3 of them) T-Shirts and
we head over to the pub. Surprise, Surprise around 20 of the boys are
there already and the singing is about to begin. Myself, the other half,
Martin and Mark stay for a couple (and start the emotional experience of
discovering Finnish beer and cider is good stuff) before deciding that
food might be a good idea.
Having forgotten all the pub addresses we head for the town square. Take a
couple of touristy snapshots (fairly unique in that the town square was
pretty sensible looking at the time - within 24 hours there would be TV
crews, pipers, aliens and Saints flags everywhere) before finding the Birra
pub (as recommended to me by a Vaasa fan's e-mail. Have a few more there
with the pub pretty quiet. It gives us a chance to experience Finnish TV
in the corner with what can only be described as TV Bingo on it !! Decide
food looks a better alternative and head off for the reindeer steaks.
8.00pm - After the restaurant its time for Olivers and
Raspberry Cider (very sweet and very disgusting). Stay for a
couple there meeting some more Saints fans and using the pubs iMac to
check the e-E-Tele for squad news. Hear that McBride has flu and
is isolated from the squad. Surprisingly thats about the only discussion
about the game for the rest of the night. Some discussions with the other
fans and we hear that O'Malley's has turned into the Saints fans base and
certain Waily Retard columnists are "unable to stand".
So we set off back along the road to what would turn out to be the best
Saints party ever..........
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