Go West! No, East this time.....

People at work think I’m mental. Well, that’s a given, but specifically in relation to shelling out the cash to head to Bulgaria for three days to watch Derry City. To be honest, I could spend the time and effort to try and explain it to them but they still wouldn’t get it, so I just grin and nod when people ask me if I am really going.
Finish work today and dive for the airport to get to London. Tomorrow the adventure really starts. Don the colours and hit the airport. There will be no army heading tomorrow, just a crack team of troops. For others, the turnaround time and the finances didn’t allow another trip so soon after Riga. For those of us who couldn’t make Riga, or those with plenty of spare cash it is the second trip in three weeks. The airport tomorrow will see people staring at the crest, trying to work out the team or wondering why there are people bedecked in red and white gear at 5.30am. The odd brave soul might ask who your support, other may know the badge and know your destination.
Don’t underestimate the task we face. People may not have heard of CSKA in the same way that they heard of PSG but they have a coefficient which is about 5 times that of Derry’s current one. People were raving about the result that Bohs got away to Red Bull Salzburg, but CSKA have a coefficient more than double that of RBS. They have serious European pedigree and we are really going to up against it for this one. The CSKA fans who have invaded the Derry message boards on mass since the fixture predict a crowd of 10,000 plus for this one. The stadium may hold 40,000 odd but the way these lads support, there will be serious noise. The City support on the other hand may number about 100.
The horrific injury list is another major problems as options are going to be seriously light on the ground. I can’t remember another season when we had two players sustain broken legs. We are down to bare bones and it will be a case of the last man standing for Stephen Kenny. Given the success of the system you’d have to think a 4-5-1 system will be employed. I’d guess that McManus may start up front with Farren replacing him as the Scot tires. The engine room will be critical and we need to man up here. Tracking men, making tackles, putting in the hard yards will all be required and we need a heroic effort to give ourselves a fighting chance. In the heat this will be difficult, we were there for the Ireland game and it was still fairly hot after 8pm.
The fans travel in hope, as if you don’t travel in hope then what’s the point? You must believe. We’ll hopefully win more friends round Europe and carry the reputation of the Red and White Army into South Eastern Europe. We were inches away from a famous goal here over a decade ago. If that chance had been converted we would have been through to the next round. There is no Anthony Tohill in the squad this time round but we will need a team of giants, metaphorically and physically. There is no room for shrinking violets on this one, the spirit of Gothenburg and Fir Park is needed for this one. Play like we have done in some of the domestic games this year and we’ll be on the end of a cricket score.
The team left today and the fans will be making their way to Sofia over the course of the next few days. I was packing the bag last night and the spring was in the step. This time last week I was telling all and sundry that I wasn’t going. No way, wasn’t spending this amount of money to go back to Sofia. And then, like Skonto Riga’s defence, my resistance crumbled and five minutes after the final whistle in the Brandywell I was booked. This is history, this is what it is all about. What if I hadn’t gone and we get a result? That would have been very hard to take, given you’d follow them anywhere else.
Donning the colours and hitting the road. The heart swells with pride. This is what it is about. Our team, our city, our people. People going “Oh aye, you beat Skonto Riga” and then it heads into a discussion of the merits of Derry City. The look on the taxi drivers wherever it is you are going to, when they realize you are here for the football. The buzz. That’s what it is, you can’t explain it. Different people get their kicks different ways, this is mine. Belting out “Teenage Kicks” or “The Town I Love So Well” as people look on bemused. The belonging, this is our tribe and while we mightn’t be perfect, you wouldn’t trade it for the world.
Sack it. When I enter the ground all talk of coefficients and reputations will go out the window. One only has to look at events on Leeside to see just how fragile clubs can be. It is about shared stories, shared passion, shared memories. That is all a football club, it is only as strong as the people that make it. This is merely eleven players against eleven. Us against them. It is all about the pride and the passion, the ninety minutes. 11 heroes from the edge of Europe against a side that could buy and sell us with loose change. Roaring yourself hoarse as this is your team. You’re not a customers, you’re not a demographic here. You’re Derry City and that team on the pitch is you. I once saw a great banner at a game which read “You live our dream, now play as in our dreams” and every time I think about it I think it brilliantly encapsulated what support is.
So passport in hand once more we hit the trail for European glory. Hit them Derry!