Happy you came back! Not too long of a post here, but another weekend passes here in the UK, another trip for me! So, I figured I’d walk you all through it. This time, I was in Manchester for the weekend, but decided to travel from there to Birmingham, to see my beloved Aston Villa.
This was a special time all-around, because it was only my second ever trip to what I like to think of as my home away from home. And not only that, but Villa had a bit of new hope, sort of a rebirth, bringing in a new manager, Dean Smith. This game against Swansea was one I just HAD to go to.
I went in January with a friend, when I visited the UK, but that was a game against Barnsley, so the environment/competition wasn’t completely to the highest extent. That wasn’t the case this day. A sold-out Villa Park saw a little over 42,000 at the stadium. I went to buy these tickets a few weeks back, to sit in the famous Holte End, but stalled and ended up forgetting to do it. Then, we signed Dean Smith. He and his family have been Villa fans growing up, and a he’s a name Villa fans were definitely happy with to be coming in, so I knew I had to buy tickets ASAP. But I stalled, and forgot that day, again.
Then, a few days later, I get a notification from Villa’s app on my phone that the “Upper Trinity Stand” was open. That’s when I knew I was in a bad spot. That stand isn’t open often, as they keep it closed to try and completely pack the other parts of the stadium first. I go online to buy a ticket, and virtually EVERYWHERE is sold out. The Holte End completely, the Doug Ellis stand too, and there was legitimately only one seat available in the Lower Trinity, so I jump on that and buy it so I don’t have to sit up higher up in the Upper Trinity, and I am so happy I did.
Like I said, I was in Manchester for the weekend, so that Saturday morning, I left the hotel around 11am for the train, which is actually an easier train ride than it would’ve been for me from Chester to Birmingham, so that was nice. Like a dummy tourist, I get off the train kind of at the wrong stop, because I thought it was close enough for me to be able to walk. NOPE, so I call an Uber, and it was one of those distances that I could’ve walked, but it would’ve been an extra hour to my trip and had me showing up right before kickoff, so I forked up the £4 and took the sub-10-minute Uber ride. Easy enough.
I take a lap around the outside of the stadium just to take in the environment when I first get there. It really was a good one, with people in a good mood, crowds everywhere, so I figure I better get into the stadium before things get too crowded with lines and all. I get into the concourse and there I get a drink and watch the rest of the crazy Man U-Chelsea match, before I go to my seat to watch the rest of warm-ups.
And, then I got to my seat, and oh my god, that seat.
Just look at that view.
As kickoff approaches, the teams walk out, and Dean Smith is officially introduced to the Villa faithful, as the Holte End belts out singing, “He’s one of our own, he’s one of our ownnnnnnnn, Dean Smith, he’s one of our own.” Absolutely breathtaking and I was in awe of the noise. It was so loud, even in a sold-out stadium like this, it sounded like it was echoing in an empty stadium. Insane.
Then, kickoff and the match is underway. A decent match all-in-all as Villa scored early through Chelsea loanee, Tammy Abraham, and Villa Park was bouncing the entire game. This was a situation we as Villa fans have seen ever-so often in this league, under Steve Bruce, where we’re up, and then sit back and concede a dumb goal (or two), and drop points.
While I was sitting there, I made conversation with the guy next to me, who actually lives in Wales, right outside of Swansea, but made the trip up to VP for the match. He likes/tries to come to about four a season, and this was one of them. He was a bit older, but by himself, as was I. I heard him the whole match mumbling to himself every time something happened, good or bad. Not mumbling in a weird way, but analyzing the game.
He and I were in the same boat, where even though it was a new manager and we were playing well, we were just waiting for the defensive subs to come on and us to “lock down” the match, but not doing so. Smith didn’t do that with his subs. Twice he took out attackers for attackers, and the third one he took off Super Jack Grealish, for a midfielder in Conor Hourihane. This third sub had some fans moaning and groaning, but me and this man (never got his name), knew it was a good sub for the last 15 minutes, as Villa had 3 matches in 6 days to play, so surely Jack shouldn’t run all 90 in the first one if he wants him to be fresh for the next two. Great smarts there from Smith.
This time, Villa do see the game out, and we walk away with a 1-0 victory, and 3 points on Dean Smith’s dream debut. A beginning to a new era. I’m not gonna address the fact that we lost those next two games in the upcoming week, cause I’m focusing on this day, but still.
The ride back to Manchester was a pretty good experience too, weirdly enough to say. Getting to hear and see all of the different fans going from their teams matches, back home, I was swarmed with Wolves fans for the most part, which sucked. But it was definitely funny and cool to hear the banter going on from fan to fan, whether being for the same club, or not.
Then, on Sunday, I wake up at the hotel in Manchester, and before I take the train back to Chester, I take a tour of Manchester United’s Old Trafford, which was just beau—nah, y’know what? I’ll leave that whole story for another post;)
I said before there was way more to come, but since then, I’ve added to my schedule and there is WAY more to come, for sure!
Thanks for reading!!
"Soccer" State of Mind 