Your personal away support thread.

[Greenacres]

Yeah, I went to New Brighton Tower in December 1925 in my Model T-Ford. Took me 2 days to get there and 3 days to get back avoiding all the potholes and fighting off 2 Highwaymen on the way there and one on the way back.

Don't joke, that sounds like my matchday experience travelling to a home game...the Stroud valleys are like the wild west in places!

 

[Si Robin]

I haven't done a count for a while, but the last new ground I went to was Molineux in 2018. So my list is:

Prem:
Aston Villa*
Bournemouth
Crystal Palace
Manchester United* x 2
Southampton
Spurs (White Hart Lane x 3)
Watford*
Wolves*
Total - 8

Championship:
Birmingham City*
Blackburn Rovers* x 6
Bristol City x 4
Huddersfield Town x 2
Hull City
Nottingham Forest
QPR x 2 (Fulham once when they were playing at Loftus Road)
Swansea City x 2
West Bromwich Albion x 3
Wigan Athletic
Total - 10

League 1:
Accrington Stanley
Bristol Rovers x 6
Burton Albion
Doncaster Rovers x 2 (Belle Vue once and Keepmoat once)
Lincoln City
Oxford United x 4
Portsmouth*
Rochdale
Rotherham United (Millmoor)
Shrewsbury Town
Southend United x 4
Wycombe Wanderers x 2
Total - 12

League 2:
Bradford City
Cambridge United
Carlisle United
Cheltenham Town x ???
Crewe Alexandra x 2
Exeter City*
Forest Green Rovers x 6 (one time at The Lawn)
Grimsby Town
Macclesfield Town x 2
Mansfield Town x 2
Morecambe x 2 (Both Christie Park)
Northampton Town x 3
Oldham Athletic x 3
Plymouth Argyle
Port Vale x 2
Scunthorpe United x 2
Swindon Town x 2
Walsall
Total - 18

48 League teams in total - but a couple more need re-doing due to being old grounds. The starred teams are ones where I haven't seen Cheltenham play.

Alongside the above - other grounds I've been to include:
Wembley x 3 (twice old, once new)
Millennium Stadium x 2
Gloucester City x 3
Evesham United x 2
Cinderford Town
Bishop's Cleeve x 4
Cirencester Town
Banbury United
Worcester City (St George's Lane)
Notts County x 3
Kidderminster Harriers x 3
Woking
Hinckley United (Middlefield Lane)
Kettering Town (Rockingham Road)
Yeovil Town x 4
Torquay United x 4
Boston United
Darlington (Reynolds Arena)
Weston-Super-Mare
Rushden & Diamonds x 2 (Nene Park)

 

[redjed]

A lot of these are from the past , i do not travel much these days
Aston Villa
Arsenal
Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackpool
Bolton
Blackburn
Bournemouth
Brentford
Brighton
Bristol city
Bristol Rovers
Cambridge
Cardiff
Cheltenham
Crewe
Chester
Chesterfield
Carlisle
Colchester
Coventry
Derby
Fleetwood
Fulham
Forest green
Gillingham
Hereford
Kidderminster
Liverpool
Leeds
Leicester
Macclesfield
Mansfield
Man United
Man City
Nottingham Forest
Notts County
Newport
Orient
Oxford
Portsmouth
Plymouth
QPR
Rotherham
Sheff United
Sunderland
Swansea
Shrewsbury
Tottenham
Tranmere
Wolverhampton
Walsall
Wrexham
Yeovil
All these teams were in the football league at the time.

 

[GTFCfish]

I’ve just remembered a couple more on my list, a 0-0 draw at Sheffield Wednesday and also I’ve done Mansfield 3 times not 2 as I put down as I went to our 2-0 defeat the year Mansfield won the Conference. Edited now.

 

[Chris FGR]

My full list is:

West Brom (3)
Mansfield (3)
Wolves (2)
Southend (2)
Sheff Utd (2)
Liverpool (2)
Chesterfield (2, old ground and new ground)
Chelsea
Burnley
West Ham
Forest
Sheffield Wednesday
Barnsley
Huddersfield
Coventry (Highfield Road)
Lincoln
Blackpool
Bolton (Burnden Park)
Port Vale
Scunthorpe
Halifax
Notts County
York
Southport

So basically your racist against the West Country,

 

[Sydney Posse]

A lot of these are from the past , i do not travel much these days
Aston Villa
Arsenal
Barnsley
Birmingham
Blackpool
Bolton
Blackburn
Bournemouth
Brentford
Brighton
Bristol city
Bristol Rovers
Cambridge
Cardiff
Cheltenham
Crewe
Chester
Chesterfield
Carlisle
Colchester
Coventry
Derby
Fleetwood
Fulham
Forest green
Gillingham
Hereford
Kidderminster
Liverpool
Leeds
Leicester
Macclesfield
Mansfield
Man United
Man City
Nottingham Forest
Notts County
Newport
Orient
Oxford
Portsmouth
Plymouth
QPR
Rotherham
Sheff United
Sunderland
Swansea
Shrewsbury
Tottenham
Tranmere
Wolverhampton
Walsall
Wrexham
Yeovil
All these teams were in the football league at the time.

Wow !!, all them places, but you haven't been to the home of football

 

[darren gregory]

Just missing Sunderland from the bottom two divisions.
I've done every team apart from Norwich, Chelsea and Arsenal, however because of the new grounds I've done 76 of the 90.

Also went to Queen of the South for a friendly

 

[BlackHaddock]

If we are starting to name drop, then I've been to a few other grounds too.

LA Galaxy's, Ajax's, Berlin's Olympic Stadium for three German cup finals, Borussia Mönchengladbach's old ground, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, Eintracht Frankfurt's and of course Mosset Park to watch Forres Mechanics.

I could go on, but I'll save a few for later if others start to trawl through their lists.

 

[Agombar stool]

Ah abroad! Now we are talking. Time to open my memory banks.

I'm pretty sure I went to see a Tampa Bay football team that played in either the college or the NFL stadium. There were about 10k people rattling around in a massive bowl. This was well before the current league structure in the States, probably early to mid-90s.

In Europe - quite a few in Scotland as I followed Hearts when I lived up there. Ibrox, Celtic Park, Tynecastle (Hearts) , Easter Road (Hibs), Fir Park (Motherwell), Fir Hill (Partick Thistle), Pittodrie (Aberdeen) , Livingston, Hampden (to see Hearts beat Hibs in the semi and then Gretna in the final) and of course Ochilview, home of Stenhousemuir!

Luxembourg - too many to mention but the Henri Dunant in Beggen is truly the home of football!
France - Metz (a midweek game against Tours who had 8 travelling fans)
Germany - Eintracht Frankfurt and Cologne
Netherlands - PSV Eindhoven
Czech Republic - Dukla Prague (on my stag)
Spain - Bernabau (for the Classico in 2004 I think) and Camp Nou (white hankies as Barca were honking back then)

I think I have forgotten some but that will do for now.

 

[valefan16]

Berlin's Olympiastadion is excellent, its kept the facade from the infamous 1936 Olympics but inside is modern, went to watch Hertha v Werder 74000 sell out on a hot May afternoon, full of internationals (this was when Werder were decent and had Diego, Naldo, Frings, Klose etc) and it cost a tenner a ticket. Beers could be had in your seat, was some Werder fans in the home ends with zero trouble and incredible atmosphere, real family feel too outside with stalls, games etc.

The Germans do it well. Shame it costs double to watch 4th tier football here and have all the rules and regulations we have due to past behaviours.

Bernabeu was OK but didn't serve alcohol and the facilities were fairly basic from a fans POV

Stade de France is decent but has hardly any loo's!

Went Lens for England v Wales, that was a decent little ground but the town of Lens is tiny! Wasn't a great experience outside the football as my 7 week old son back home had got sepsis and then my car packed up rushing home in Calais, pushed it onto the ferry and gave up completely in Dover!

 

[les.gtfc]

Although having been to 172 different grounds in England and Wales, I have only ever been to one abroad (not including Scotland) and that was The Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. I went there the time France beat England 2-1 in the Euros when England were winning 1-0 after 90 minutes!

 

[BlackHaddock]

Although having been to 172 different grounds in England and Wales, I have only ever been to one abroad (not including Scotland) and that was The Estadio da Luz in Lisbon. I went there the time France beat England 2-1 in the Euros when England were winning 1-0 after 90 minutes!

My only England away game was in the 1988 Euro's, lost 3-1 to Russia in Frankfurt.

 

[CFC91]

Also use the Futbology App which is great.

Tell me I have done:
187 grounds
77/92
145 grounds in England
10 grounds no longer in use
32 non English grounds - furthest afield Vietnam, Cambodia and Australia

Got 3 games in the NL this season at grounds i've never been too so will try and get those ticked off with maybe 1 or 2 random games.

The only team in the 92 I don't think i've seen live is Spurs.

 

[Chris FGR]

I've been to Brimscombe and Thrupp.

 

[Indian Dan]

My only England away game was in the 1988 Euro's, lost 3-1 to Russia in Frankfurt.

My only ‘away’ England was v Wales at Ninian Park in the early 70s. Francis Lee scored, I think. ‘Twas very naughty!

 

[Greenacres]

I've been to Brimscombe and Thrupp.

Snap...I liked the fact that they served a biscuit with your half time cuppa.

Probably the most civilised place I have ever watched a game is our local rival Shortwood, where you get your tea/coffee in a proper mug, then hand it back in when you leave. The other thing I like about visiting Meadowbank is the fact that you can see a corner of our ground looking up and into the distance...a reminder that we will always be able to look down on them, at least until we move to Jn13 on the M5!

 

[AdamStag]

On 143

Was “fortunate enough” to visit grounds like the dripping pan at Lewes, but others such as Nuneaton, Tamworth, Hyde, Histon, Kettering, grays, hayes and yeading, Altrincham, Salisbury, bath, Southport, chasetown, droylsden in Mansfield’s time down in the conference.

Also got a good mate who follows Nantwich so been to many grounds round their leagues too, chalked off the Giant axe at Lancaster on Saturday (more fun than Mansfield losing to Cheltenham)

 

[Laker]

I’ve not done very well to be honest:

Arsenal
Villa
Brighton
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Liverpool
Man Utd
Newcastle
Norwich
Watford
Wolves

Birmingham
Blackburn
Derby
Luton
QPR
Stoke
West Brom

Coventry (I’m counting the Ricoh as it’s still theirs in my eyes)
Ipswich
Lincoln
Oxford
Peterborough
Portsmouth
Southend
Tranmere
Wimbledon
Wycombe

Cambridge
Colchester
Crewe
Leyton Orient
Stevenage
Mansfield
Northampton

Lost league grounds:
Arsenal (Highbury)
Brighton (Goldstone)
Cardiff (Ninian)
Coventry (Highfield Road)
Spurs (White Hart Lane)
Swansea (Vetch)
West Ham (Upton Park)

Non league (some lost grounds):
Aldershot
Barnet
Braintree
Cambridge City
Dagenham
Dartford
Ebbsfleet
Grays
Halifax
Histon
Kettering
Nuneaton
Rushden & Diamonds
Wrexham
York

Edit: I’ve also been to the old and new Wembleys.

And abroad I’ve been to:
Barcelona
Bordeaux
Marseille

 

[Camborne Gills]

63 of the current 91 (Old and new)
6 National League (ex FL)
2 National League South
1 Northern D1 (SE)
3 Southern Premier South
4 Southern D1 (S)
8 Step 5 grounds
19 Step 6 grounds
Glasgow Rangers
New and Old Wembley

 

[GTFCfish]

I actually thought I’d done a lot of aways until reading through this thread and I suddenly feel like a part time supporter compared to what most of you have done.

 

[Gladders]

I've watched all our away games on ifollow this season so far!!

Not really much of an away follower to be honest. Done Scunny, Stevenage, Mansfield, Lincoln, Rochdale, Palace, Blackburn, Chesterfield, Wembley old and new, Millennium, and Old Trafford (England game) and got to Barnet before they decided to call it off. I think that's it! oh and driven/walked past a few others.

 

[Si Robin]

I miss away games so much. I used to bloody love decking the car out on a Saturday morning with a scarf in the back, a crate of beer for the passengers and then leaving nice and early to ensure we're in the vicinity of the away ground a couple of hours before kick-off.

Then there were the games I did on the train or on a mini-bus with some mates so I would have a few beers myself.

The game was almost a side-show to the day out. And I always enjoyed them ahead of home games.

 

[Laker]

I miss away games so much. I used to bloody love decking the car out on a Saturday morning with a scarf in the back, a crate of beer for the passengers and then leaving nice and early to ensure we're in the vicinity of the away ground a couple of hours before kick-off.

Then there were the games I did on the train or on a mini-bus with some mates so I would have a few beers myself.

The game was almost a side-show to the day out. And I always enjoyed them ahead of home games.

I think the ultimate “most fulfilling” experience as a football fan is seeing your team pull off a great win away from home. By “great” I mean:
- better or equal opposition
- said opposition having several good chances or having your side on the ropes a bit but generally your side getting the better of them
- a top performance from your side
- an excellent away following (numbers and volume)
- the winner coming in the second half, preferably last 20 mins but being fully deserved
- the winner being scored in front of the away end

I’ve only experienced this a handful of times in my life but my god it’s good. I’d put it up there with winning at Wembley.

Edit: and beer should be involved. You don’t have to be bladdered, just loose enough.

 

[Camborne Gills]

I can count the number of times that as happened at Gills away games on the fingers on one hand over the past 38 years.
Wembley 2009 PO final
Plymouth 97/98
Torquay 2011

 

[GTFCfish]

I’ve been lucky enough to have a few like that where we got second half winners in front of our fans:

Wolves away when they were 2nd and we were fighting relegation and Andy Todd headed in our winner.

West Brom away after being battered all game and our keeper saving a second half penalty we get a penalty ourselves with 10 mins left and Pouton smashes it home and we win with a complete smash and grab 1-0.

Mansfield away this season is right up there as we were down to ten men after 10 minutes but then get the winner in front of our packed away end with about 20 to go with limbs everywhere.

And of course Liverpool away where Phil Jevons hammers home a 30 yarder in the 120th minute in front of 7000 of us, that was a pretty good day too.

Oh and Chesterfield away was great as well as we got the clincher in front of 2600 of us not long after Chesterfield had pulled it back to 2-1 and I was convinced that they would end up getting a late equaliser.

 

[dedwardp]

Bizarrely one of my favourite memories away from home was at West Brom in our second Championship season - it was actually a last-gasp winner for the home team! We had already resigned ourselves to relegation for a while so I didn't really care that we lost, they were gunning for automatic promotion and we were 3-2 up going into injury time.

They scored twice to win 4-3, and the noise when the fourth goal went in was like nothing I'd ever heard before. Absolute limbs as they would say nowadays, the roof came off and you could literally feel the whole ground just shaking - it was definitely an experience. Also one of those moments when you realise just how out of our depth we were in that division when you look around and see the scale of the celebrations in a ground that size etc.

 

[BlackHaddock]

I have had plenty of great weekends away watching Grimsby, usually ruined by 90 minutes of football.

 

[Chris FGR]

Tamworth away on the last day of the season in 10-11 was a good away day, last day relegation 6 pointer live on Premier Sports. We took 400-odd helped by running free coaches, had a good piss up in Spoons wound up their nutter of a lamb mascot and then lost 2-1 even though they didn’t have a proper keeper but other results went our way and both sets of fans ran on the pitch to celebrate survival together. Then went for a piss up in their little club bar in the corner and their gaffer Dale Belford came in already hammered along with some players from both sides and had a sing song with both sets of fans.

After that we to the Snowdome and managed to get let on the slopes somehow for some dodgy pissed up skiing and then fell asleep on the train and ended up in Exeter.

 

[Si Robin]

I think the ultimate “most fulfilling” experience as a football fan is seeing your team pull off a great win away from home. By “great” I mean:
- better or equal opposition
- said opposition having several good chances or having your side on the ropes a bit but generally your side getting the better of them
- a top performance from your side
- an excellent away following (numbers and volume)
- the winner coming in the second half, preferably last 20 mins but being fully deserved
- the winner being scored in front of the away end

I’ve only experienced this a handful of times in my life but my god it’s good. I’d put it up there with winning at Wembley.

Edit: and beer should be involved. You don’t have to be bladdered, just loose enough.

If I did a top 10 Cheltenham games that I've been to, then I think more than 50% would be from away days. Beating Swansea at the Liberty on the opening day of the 06/07 season for example, or the Burton 6-5 game in 2010 (though that would have been amazing at Whaddon Road). Other Cheltenham fans will cite beating Leeds 2-1 at Elland Road as much better than the 1-0 win at home in that same season.

There's just that thing about away games. The way your group of fans are banded together rather than spread out over the whole stadium helps. I agree, a few beers adds to it as well. Even when driving I'd always have 1 or 2 before the game (none during or after).

Sadly, until my kids are a bit older these things are now a thing of the past.

 

[LeonTheGreen]

I’ve done 19. Only ones I haven’t done are Salford, Oldham, Leyton Orient, Scunthorpe, and Macclesfield. Spent way to much time on the motorways.