Mikey's Mini Rovers Tour (Part 1)

MikeyGamst has produced a Diary of his recent three game extravaganza featuring trips to Everton, Bayer Leverkusen and Arsenal that he would like to share with us.

Here is Part One - Everton away and the lead up to Leverkusen in Germany…

I recently took a week off work to go on a three game tour to watch the mighty Rovers fight on three fronts. Whilst the trip to Germany was always going to be the main talking point, there was plenty to discuss from the other trips.

Saturday 10th February 2007
First stop was the Everton game at Goodison Park. It involved me getting up at 11 o'clock to get the tram from my base in Sheffield to travel via train to Liverpool Lime Street. Arriving after much delay at 1 o'clock I went to what can only be described as the worst pub (called the Blue Lion) in England close to Anfield with my Girl's Dad Ian, sorry darling but some trips are strictly men only. It`s amazing how friendly Liverpool fans are when you are playing against the sworn enemy. A small tip for all those first time travellers... bring Arctic gear - Merseyside is freezing.

We got to the ground for a Chang beer and a scouse pie just after 2.30. There was also just enough time to put on a bet for David Dunn as first scorer and Rovers to win 2-1 (Great call there Mike). The game passed and it was poor in truth, Rovers tried but rarely threatened. It was very evident we were crippled by injuries and players returning from long lay offs. David Dunn went off with a niggle after 10 minutes causing me to throw away my betting slip in disgust. I was on the 3rd row so I should have tried to hit Mikel Arteta with it the diving Spanish sod.

I eventually got home about half seven to tell my girlfriend we lacked any invention whatsoever and that her Dad swore more in two hours than in his previous 48-years of existence.

Notes from the game
* Very solid looking at the back. We gave very little away apart from the goal obviously....
* Chris Samba has turned from a useless sack into a very good centre back in
the space of a week.
* Ryan Nelsen is the King of the Universe.
* Benni looks very subdued up front.
* Jason Roberts and David Dunn are not yet match fit.
* We were disappointing but on another day we would have won 1-0 instead of losing 1-0.
* Paul Gallagher was the Best Rovers player on the day and was unlucky to be substituted. He has very fast feet.
* Best Chants - "Bring on the Germans" and "Lets all do the Samba".

Tuesday 13th February 2007
We got our flight to Germany from Robin Hood Airport at 3pm, There was four of us travelling, three Rovers fans and my best mate Luke who is a Sheffield Wednesday fan. He borrowed my HSA top with Mokoena on the back, just so no-one would mess with him. The flight was only bout two hours but we actually had the worst pilot in human history. She kept on tilting the plane... I've never been so happy to see Germany ever.

I got mistook for Brett Emerton at the airport during a kick around with a flat footy outside but the (clearly blind) German spotter realised his mistake when he saw me playing.... I managed to stay on side and didn't run into blind corners with the ball.

We got to our hotel room about 8pm and threw the bags down to go and explore the finer points of the shed of a town we nicknamed Beverkusen due to the stench of 30 cents beer. My god the women are not as nice as they are in Sheffield. one in three have beards!!!

The second and concluding part of "Mikey's mini Rovers tour" featuring the game with Leverkusen and the trip to the Emirates Stadium to face Arsenal will be published later this week….

This Article was written and submitted by MikeyGamst.


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