My Hamburg Story, a very long Read

[os5889]

So, after years of dreaming this is it, May 11th 2010 has snuck up on me, boarding the 12.09 from Leamington to Marylebone with uncertain thought aplenty one thing is clear my beloved Fulham are contesting a final at last, and not just any final, a European final and for one night the eyes of the world will be directed towards "little Fulham" many of which full of awe and envy!

I for one am chomping at the bit to get to Hamburg and celebrate a wonderful season and everything the team and staff have achieved in this most unmatchable and quite frankly unimaginable of years.

But before that an arduous and soul destroying coach 15 hour journey from Craven Cottage followed a rather more luxurious and relaxed journey during which time I recorded why I'd write down the reasoning behind this for me most unusual of undertakings – a record of the trip!

Time is precious; we live for the moment and quite often in the excitement of the day and much of the subtle details are lost in the tension, the highs and the lows. Learning through this year to enjoy and treasure these little things life throws at us is important, so for me if I can protect in my mind the  memories of the trip, convey it to people who would have loved to but weren't able to for whatever reason be there then this effort will have been worthwhile.

As a sidenote the thought crosses my mind that keeping this record is as much as anything a test of my discipline, determination and motivation to achieve a task I set out to complete (by the 15th was the date I set) which is going to be something I'm going to have to do a lot of in my new job.

As the train hurtles towards London through pasture and vibrant oilseed rape fields I find myself wandering, a moment of calm early in the day, before the storm.

As i got closer to London it pops into my head how strange superstition is, for me as a fan it is a ritual which must be adhered to as closely as possible as when I don't it all goes horribly, horribly wrong! Take for instance the Hamburg semi final, I couldn't find my lucky 09/10 Europa Bobby shirt (who should have been in Fabios squad but thats another story) which goes on top of my home adidas betfair shirt. Now as a result I wore my notoriously unlucky 08/09 shirt (which is a shame as it is a gorgeous shirt)  and low and behold Petric rocketed in a free kick to give Hamburg the lead. After 60 odd minutes and clutching at straws I'd had enough and threw the unlucky shirt to the ground, within 10 minutes the turnaround was complete. Coincidence? The scientist in me says don't be silly you foolish boy but in my heart I believe in my lucky shirt, and mark my words I packed the shirt and took it proudly to Hamburg leaving the unlucky Nev shirt firmly closed away in a drawer!

Fleeting anger as the train is forcibly stopped against its will in High Wycombe, home of the Wanderers and responsible for launching the 'career' of a nameless permatanned bug eyed mismanagement expert, a tedious link I know but the shear thought of what that comedian nearly did to Fulham still boils my blood!

Well we have Mr Hodgson now who has been praised (and deservedly so) by all and is responsible for masterminding this top, top season!
As I arrive in London, Fulham scarves draped from my rucksack I'm constantly met with approving look, another surreal and proud moment in this fairytale season! So after a whistlestop tour of a few guilty pleasure tourist spots and a battle to keep all arms and legs inside the carriage at all times on Boris' monorail I settle down in a coffee shop for a nice warm cuppa. I began sparing a thought about the scary proposition of our first Spanish opponents Atletico de Madrid. From weekly reviews on Revista de La Liga I was worried about the danger their attacking setup posed our defence which wasn't exactly the paciest and was becoming more and more concerned at the overwhelming sense of 'job done'  from the British (build you up before a fall) media and Fulham fans. Atletico hd in their side an exciting and frightening  arsenal of attacking talent. Sergio Aguero representing a prodigious and as yet unrealised talent on the world stage – how I hoped that is how it would remain! Diego Forlan was for me the danger man, maligned and often ridiculed as a Fergie Flop he has flourished in the more open Spanish game and his goal record – phenomenal! He may have shut a few people up by dumping Liverpool out but you began to wonder whether he has an agenda when it comes to English teams.

Speaking of English teams, I had just seen the provisional world cup squad and was chuffed to bits that calling up form players like Johnson, King, Dawson and Bent showed the backbone of my favourite Italian. At the time not calling up Bobby but retaining the flops of Upson, Joe Cole, Heskey, Walcott and Wright Philips on reputation with no playing time was a travesty. It still is! However the belated discovery that Bobby had been called up but and it was  the injury to his Achilles that was the stopper  made me cheerier. But still looking at the squad and appreciating experience does count a lot, how can you merit the inclusion of the choking Upson who was held up by an average player Di Costa and overshadowed by the kid Tompkins, retention as well of Emile Heskey who couldn't get on the pitch to miss the barn door and don't get me started on Ian Wrights adopted son as I can't remember him playing a game since Mancini took over!  Where was Gary Neville? Where was Roger Johnson?

Sat drinking coffee I am now utterly convinced the world will be destroyed by academics and it will be completely avoidable as the following incident so succinctly describes. We have a demographic representation of around 10 students debating life, science sport and what not. They've sat down, are having a char but instead of just buying a drink; it appears they all have change and know their orders; they are writing names on scraps of papers in a very committee like way for a draw to see who will walk all of 10 feet to the counter. Following the draw the order was written on a piece of paper and whilst being announced to the barista (glorified coffee maker) 3 of them changed their orders!! This is why the world will be ruined by academics, not because someone pushed the big red button but because they spent to long deciding who would push the button... And that is why I am leaving academia, because when the sh1t hits the fan I want nothing to do with these people who couldn't quite literally organise coffee in a coffee shop.

So I jumped on the tube and headed towards Craven Cottage, I checked my itenary, coach N13 from the ground at 7.30 arriving in Hamburg Via the Channel tunnel at around 11.30 AM with a general plan of heading into the fan park and meet up with a few friends along the way. I hoped my phone battery would hold out (it did) as the itinerary recommended we should "return to the bus immediately after the final whistle". If we were to win, that would be a problem!

The walk through Bishops Park was pleasant and while chatting to an Arsenal supporting dog walker about our chances turning onto the Stevanage Road and seeing  over 20 coaches loaded up with Fulham fans ready to head off to Germany. The bus I was on was pretty packed and I was fortunate to get an aisle seat next to another solo traveller, who knew his football, the first debate was about our RB choice for the night. The consistent Baird or the flamboyant Pantsil to combat Aguero and Reyes, the outcome Baird!

As we set off the few sauced up singers drifted off to sleep and after a viewing of Fulham Juventus most people started to drift off to sleep before arriving at the Channel tunnel and being woken up by promises of food and facilities... A vending machine and 2 portaloos for 10 buses of fans, talk about hyping something up.

After the Eurocans took us to Calais in what was one of the most uncomfortable, hottest, ear poppingly dreary moments of my life let alone trip on what is meant to be one of the pinnacles of human engineering but turns out to be an egg container with the aesthetic appeal of a fridge interior I wondered why I didn't pay the extra £50 for the luxury coach option.

Six or seven hours later after aching, cramping, cricking and struggling through a terrible excuse for a nights sleep during which at best I managed 40 minutes it was 7am and my igadget told me we were 180km (100 miles) from Hamburg and should get there about 9am, the itinerary said 11.30, alarm bells rang, thats too early surely! Looking out the window as the fog lifted we began passing through a forest that put anything I'd seen in England (or Wales and Scotland to shame), it was some Naturpark of theirs and it was huge, imposing and went on for hours! The next sight on the route was the docks of Hamburg the third largest in Europe, and they weren't exactly small, cranes spread out over a vast corridor surrounding the Elbe lifting lego boxes onto everything and anything that floated
Just as I considered taking a photo or two the stewards came round, a tick and a smile later I had it! My ticket! It was like Christmas! My phone started buzzing with good luck texts and my fiancée told me the tv was dominated by Fulham and our little match in germany!

Then after a quick detour (we got lost) the bus dropped us at the ground and I got my first look at the Nordbank arena, home of Hamburger SV defeated semi finalists at the hands of the mighty Fulham! My first thoughts were of its imposing almost sovietesque appearance on the outside, a no frills stadium which would let the interior do the talking (I hoped).  Generic dozy cow (oversized missus of volume control inept drunk and irritating child) commented "its a bit crap really, not very nice", some people just cant be pleased!  The HSV emblazoned pillars and the shear height of the thing for a 50,000 arena was awesome and you could really understand why the locals would be gutted not to make the finale.

[os5889]

Sh1t, I thought looking at my watch, it was 9am, now thats early, 12 hours to wait until the game (I was later informed by our Baggie supporting steward that the other buses made many stops, ours made 0, and as such we arrived 2 hours before any other coach). A quick walk to the station past the stadium draped in Europa final banners, a few wrong connections later, followed by a few right connections to amend said errors and I arrived at the Reeperbahn as per the pre match discussions and leaflets given on the day.

Disembarking the train and heading up to street level I was uncertain really of what to expect but with a general plan of scout out the area, grab some food and beer and find the fan zone, so finding a randy old mans paradise wasn't all that surprising. Sex shops, strip clubs, cabaret bars, fast food outlets and pubs, lots of pubs – Good times! After a somewhat aimless dawdle down the street I found the fanzone which at 10am was surprisingly full, but surprisingly full of Atletico fans and almost as many photographers gathering around the beer huts and big screens. Grabbing a half of generic beer from the bar and making a beeline for the souvenir stall I was astounded at the pricing of E20 for a scarf or cap and E15 for a pendant! A rapid spin away I thought I'd stick with the memories and watch the TV with a few Atletico fans watching the run to the final for both teams. Top montages for both teams and after watching both I think the Atletico fans realised how tough we were going to be to beat, and vice versa! I especially loved the closing shot of Mr Hodgson being overcome with joy and bouncing like a teenager as we took the lead against Hamburg!

As the day got older the atmosphere began to build and after a carefully choreographed meeting with some FoFers by the lamppost under the big red building thing on the square by the big TV I was pointed towards a square down the road with a few irish and London pubs and a few Fulham fans gathering. After a Uefa interview and photo opportunity followed by an impromptu and funny as hell round of "he wore the green shirt, he wore the green shirt, that bloke from Fulham he wore the green shirt" I found the square with pubs round the edge (Molly Malones, The London pub, Quer Bar) and a few large flags hanging off the beet tent pagodas, I headed into the London pub and helped myself to a few pints of Becks to pass the time. I picked myself up at about 4ish and went off to meet some people I met before the home semi final and get some food. Leaving the pub was one of the most spine tingling moments I've had, more Fulham fans than I'd ever seen outside of the Cottage and blooming heck it was loud too! It was awesome, thousands and thousands of Fulham fans spilling out of the pub and out of the square, up onto tables and onto statues. What was one or two flags earlier was 30-40 huge banners and 100s of little flags! The noise was great too, stirring renditions of whites marching in and super Fulham made the hairs on my neck stand up. It felt like the whole Hammersmith end had congregated  on a small plaza in Germany 600 miles from our famous home on the Thames, it was amazing and will be a memory that will always stick with me.

After tracking down some FoFers we discussed the various ways we'd arrived through road, rail, air, sea and coaches to our current setting and how simply extraordinary this season has been and how proud we all are to be associated with it! A fleeting visit from Tom (Eq) on his whistlestop tour of Hamburg later it was decided we would embark on a cultural experience steeped in history and get some food at Burger King where we had to pay an old timer in a labcoat for the privilege to piss!

The Thomas Read Irish bar attached to the Beatlemania museum (complete with scouse touts haha) was next port of call complete with more banners, more singing and more fans again, it was mesmeric the number of football fans in the city on that day, I didn't bother even trying to get a pint, just soaked up the atmosphere, made a final dash back to Fulham town for a last pre match pint then made my way to the train station.

I don't often swear for the sake of it but fcuk me that train station was busy, as wide as tennis court and as long as the Johnny Haynes stand and jam packed with Atletico Fans in fine voice bouncing, swirling scarves and waving banners. It was strange they were loud, it sounded great, but at no point was I intimidated, a top bunch of real football fans in my opinion. The train when I finally got on board was packed but against the odds I wound up with a pocket of Fulham fans amonst the Atleti faithful and we had a good sing song even reviving some old favourites like "boom, boom, boom, let me hear you say gera" and "who put the ball in the pompey net?". The best moments were howevever the Macarena singing Spaniards and the moment they started the intro to the white stripes seven nation army and we took over with a bit of "whoa Bobby Zamora", it was great, both fans just enjoying this rarest of occasions'!

Getting off at Othmarschen and being hoarded onto shuttle buses  I took a lot of enjoyment once we got onto going at the 2 most sauced up Fulham lads I'd seen being rude to some poor young Atleti fan saying they'd rather bang a dog than a Spaniard not being able to finish their beers because they'd had too much and pretty much the whole of the bus laughing at them being complete douches!

The buses stopped at the bottom of the steps to the stadium, a wall of white was arriving, it was getting exciting! After enduring a quick frisk, 3 turnstiles and a queue to buy my overpriced programme I found my no cinema comfy fixed seat and got a good look at the ground. Its a glorious stadium, not a bad seat in the ground and the funny roof thing amplified the acoustics! 2 minutes later the team came out to warm up and that was that my use of my £75 seat was done.

The team looked fresh and applauded the crowd rapidly growing at our end and as soon as they split as they do at the cottage I knew the line-up, Zamora and Duff to start, Baird deposes Pantsil; good news indeed.  This news was celebrated as Diddy David Hamilton led the crowd in the somewhat unusual "its gonna be a good night tonight". This subsided when I noticed Zamora wandering back to the tunnel a good 20 minutes before the rest of the team, an unfortunate indication of his true fitness as fate would have it.

The teams went off and it was time, what followed was 2 and a half hours of joy, tension, despair but always pride.

I've not really ever thought much of opening ceremonies other than being an overflamboyant load of artistic twaddle, this one however was great, fighting flags and whizzy wheely sparky german women cars showcasing the teams that had fallen along the way and emphasising the level of our achievement!

The teams came out and the volume was cranked upto 11 as the game started . We started strongly keeping the ball, looking the calmer of the two but it didn't last, Madrid came into it and after a few tentative efforts from both teams the first proper chance fell to Forlan as he broke clear and flashed a shot across goal hitting the outside of the post in a warning of things to come. The fans were unwaivering blasting out COYW, we are Fulham and we're going to Germany.

However 32 minutes on the clock and the tricky Aguero cut past Baird and hit a shot which deflected off hughes to the foot of Forlan 6 yards out who calmly and cooly swept the ball into the net and that was that 1-0 to widespread celebration at the other end of the ground in that oh so characteristic Spanish "ooooooohh" (I've never seen that before) celebration.

As with has been the case in our stunning european tour our response was to come, the crowd responded and gave as much encouragement to the team as we could muster  and we were rewarded when Ujfalusi made a mistake allowing the Bobatov to race into the box, square to Duff who flicked the ball to Gera who crossed via a flick of Zamora to Davies who smashed the half volley into the bottom left of the net, we'd equalised! Pandemonium!

Half time came in a flash, no respite as nerves took over, 45 minutes to go, or so I thought.

The second half started and was loud and tense, it was all Atletico and it was clear Zamora was struggling, he was replaced by Dempsey leaving to what was probably the loudest a group of fans have ever sung a strikers name without actually scoring, if he doubted how much the fans appreciated him, Im sure he doesn't now.

Then followed the loudest, clearest and most passionate Fulham away day song sent resonating around Hamburg to 'stand up if you still believe', while I appreciate the moment and it was stunning to see 15000 peoples arms aloft supporting Fulham, seeing banners everywhere, flags waving and knowing in my heart this was the clubs finest hour, the moment the nation was willing us on to win. But whilst it was rousing and stunned the Spanish to silence, that chant will forever be associated with that night at the Cottage against Hamburg, it was a one off moment and will never again be the same and while I gave it my all in Hamburg I won't sing that chant again as it won't mean what it did again and I for one don't want to taint the memory of it.

Then came for me the chance we had to win the cup, the hero of the hour Simon Davies striking a deflected Gera cross towards goal, tragically the keeper rose to the occasion and kept it out, that was our chance 15 minutes from time, it came and it went.
For the rest of the game is was all Atletico as they pressed for a winner showing people how good they have become under Quique Sanchez Flores. Nevland came on, followed by the fulltime whistle which strangely came as a relief as a chance to regroup. As extra time started it became clear penalties were our best bet, Nevland tried his best  but it was clear he wasn't able or used to playing the role he was given, he is not a hold up kinda guy.

Then  a huge let off, Aguero missed where the whole of the ground thought he'd scored, we were all convinced he was offside but no he'd missed from 2 feet. Maybe we were going to hold on for penalties.

Sadly it was not to be as the bitterest of pills was still left to swallow. Aguero had been a handful all night and once again he got past Baird put in a cross, at this point I looked to the ground, I knew before it was struck, he was there, and sure enough I heard the most devastating sound I've ever heard at a football match, at one end of the stadium euphoria, it was not our end. I couldn't bring myself to look for a few seconds but I had to, we are Fulham and we are proud, we don't let our heads drop.....much.

Looking across at the Atletico scrum of ecstasy and joy it hurt, looking towards our goal seeing Etuhu, Hangeland and Gera shattered, broken and devastated hurt more. 15,000 Fulham fans stunned, hurting and silenced. 11 heroes beaten and devastated.

The final whistle came as an inevitability, the dream was over. Atletico had won. The silence really drummed home that fact.
But we weren't done, we stood up, and we applauded, we understood, we appreciated and we hurt for our Fulham.. We stood, 15,000 people stood and applauded, a deflated homage to our heroes. Nobody waivered, few left, the team had given everything and done themselves, their club and their countries proud.

In the future people may talk of Roys boys or Hodgsons heroes but more than that they will always be Fulham, the team that time and time again on this magical adventure refused to lie down and know they were beaten, the team that shocked the European order and although they didn't triumph May 12th 2010 saw the finest day for the finest team Fulham has ever had the privilege of calling its own.
Perhaps this is the pinnacle of being a Fulham fan, we may not have won,  but the unity passion, nerve and determination shown this season makes me so proud to be able to say I was there.

Thank You Fulham!

[os5889]

Fulham V Atletico de Madrid Europa League Final Opening Ceremony

The opening ceremony from my view

[bigalffc]

Well written OS your sentiments during the day almost exactly matched mine.

[LBNo11]

...cheers Owen bach, a long but worthwhile read and something to tell the grandchildren (who you will of course bring up to support Fulham.. :54:

[mrska]

Cheers Owen..  a good detailed read..  summed up the atomoshere for those of us too skint to travel!!  COYWs!!

Nice1

[Scrumpy]

 :045:

Nice one OS, an excellent read. It's always nice to see how others spent the day and how they saw the occasion. I echo your thoughts that this may be the pinnacle of supporting Fulham, but boy did it make everything worthwhile. I brilliant, brilliant few days.

[os5889]

such is my sieve of a memory i had to write everything down in a note form as I went, then wrote it up this morning, soo much more to tell, so little time!

[finnster01]

Very good read Owen  :clap_hands: