football rambles

 On Saturday Peterborough's short sojourn in the Championship came to an end as they were relegated back to League 1. At the other end of the table, the victory gave Forest hope that their long stay in the second tier might be coming to an end as they kept pace with the Premiership chasing teams. It was a fairly decent performance for Posh in a game in which they were expected to be dominated by Forest. Forest did get the winner when Sam Surridge converted just before halftime. It was a tough blow for Posh who on the day were equal to Forest, but whose problem has been the lack of a forward who can compete at this level. Fair play to Forest because they were also missing some of their firepower, but the gap between the two clubs didn't seem as big as the league table suggests, at least on this performance.

 After a few days in Hamburg, it was back to Ely for Easter. I had planned on going to a few games, but was knackered and had spent more money than I would have liked! In the end on the Bank Holiday Monday we went to Ely v Thetford in the local Derby. I had kind of fallen out of love with Ely City, the last time I'd gone it was a depressing day in October and they had got pumped by Gorleston. They got pumped again against Thetford and despite getting a second half equaliser from a penalty that didn't even cross the line, Thetford punished them mightily in the last 30 minutes of the season. The weather was good, the beer was cheap and there were a lot of fans including some young Ultras who made it more interesting than it had been in the past, so the game wasn't great from an Ely perspective, but it was a good day out.

 On the way back from HSV to our hotel around the corner from St. Pauli we decided to go and see what was at the Altona 93 ground. Obviously on Wednesday afternoon not a lot was going on, but a weekend return there for a double header that included Altona would be great. Altona are one of the oldest clubs in Germany and get decent crowds even though they have always occupied a fairly low position in German football. Despite just being down the road from St. Pauli, they get on quite well as they have a similar sort of fans with left leaning tendencies.

 Along with the tour of the stadium, Hamburg lay on a museum ticket and it really is an impressive museum. You would expect it from the 'Dinosaurs' of German football though. The club can count 6 domestic titles, one league cup and 3 Pokal victories amongst its honours, as well as a European Cup and European Cup Winners Cup - as well as a number of near misses.

 I'd really recommend the tour of Hamburg's ground to anybody visiting the city. It goes on for 1 hour 20 minutes. Even though it is in German, Alexander the guide gave us an insight throughout in English as we walked between places in what was really an access all areas tour.

 St. Pauli have their Ultras who have won them friends around the world, but let's be honest Hamburger SV are a massive club. They have had a few difficult years getting stuck in Bundesliga 2. Especially as at the time of writing St. Pauli have got a really good chance at promotion whereas HSV definitely face another season in the second tier. Nevertheless, we visited their stadium tour and museum. More of that later, but first some snaps from around the ground.  The walls of the local Grill Pavilion - it does a mean currywurst and weirdly sells a lot of Astra for this part of town!  This is the view from inside the club shop at the ground. Statue of Hamburg hero Uwe Seeler, as a player he won the Pokal, the League, came second and third in the world cup and the German Golden Boot. He also played pone game for Cork. Kevin Keegan who won the Bundesliga with HSV is still remembered fondly from his time there. View of the stand from outside View from approach to the ground

 I don't usually go on holiday without trying to take in a football match, especially to a great footballing city like Hamburg. This time though it was the first time out of the country for two years and just an excuse to get out and see somewhere new. We were in St. Pauli, so there was an opportunity to see around their ground. Unfortunately, the museum wasn't open until Friday and we were there from Monday to Thursday, but we managed to see the ground and go to the (in)famous Ultras' bar - 'the Jolly Roger'. Outside the ground Outside the ground Outside the ground Stand at the Millentor Stickers and in particularly Ultras' stickers are ubiquitous around the ground. I took this picture as there is a Clapton sticker in amongst them Mural outside the Millentor Sign at the Jolly Roger Us at the Jolly Roger Outside the Jolly Roger Statue on a building near the ground  A very pertinent St. Pauli sticker