Planet Swans ArchivesThis week’s trip was a Boxing Day visit to Crewe – Our 4th away game on Boxing Day in four seasons (The previous being Brentford, Kidderminster & Torquay). The 3 Official coaches finally left Tescos at 8:30, with lots of fans showing off their new Norwich City…. Erm I mean Swansea City third strip.
The journey up went quite quick, Santa Clause had visited everyone for Christmas but we were waiting for one more present – 3 points against Dario Gradi’s men.
A much needed pub-stop was in order and we stopped at Nantwich for an hour at around 1pm, I was hoping that Chelsea would slip up against Reading on the match on TV. There was an Alexandra fan working behind the bar, having some good banter with the Swans fans. That’s always good to see.
The thing I didn’t realise was how close Crewe is to Stoke, I was always positive it was closer to Liverpool. Perhaps it was just me but you learn something new everyday!
The coach arrived at Crewe’s ground at around 2:20; I bought a programme and made my way to the entrance. The odd thing about gaining entry was similar to Northampton’s ground, where the away fans have to purchase the tickets at a ticket booth first and then enter through the turnstiles.
So it’s not really ‘pay at the gate’ but more ‘pay at the booth first, which is next to the gate’
The Alexandra Stadium (Or Gresty Road as the fans like to call it) was a new ground for me, it is a decent ground – it looks quite similar to Walsall’s ground for those of you who have been there. The pitch looked quite small though, but it has a pretty big stand horizontally across the pitch on one side. It is very high and looked impressive.
The stand to our left was empty and the other stand behind the goals was pretty full, but very small. Just a shame there weren’t many home fans there. The Jackarmy were situated horizontally in a decent part, with good facilities – 734 of us to be exact, with a very good view.
There wasn’t much singing from the travelling faithful, most of them were probably hung-over or had too much Christmas turkey the day before. There was the odd chant and ‘It’s just like watching Brazil’ – But not just because of the football but because of the kit. Liz was also clapping her boyfriend, giving her ‘sweetheart’ Lee encouragement about 5 rows in front of me.
After a superb performance and a good win on the road, we made a swift exit and left Crewe at just after 5 O’clock. The coach driver made us listen to TalkSport on the journey back; it wasn’t bad, just debating the Premiership and football in general. Although they did mention LT10 surprisingly, after a Swans fan texted in to say what a good performance he had a few hours earlier. It did make the time go quicker.
A quick stop at Strensham services next where I had to look twice as the Messiah Kenny Jackett walked in with around 70-80 fans waiting there. He got a rapturous applause as he walked in, and out, of the loo. He must have had a Number One as he was only about 3 minutes! He did look slightly embarrassed and made a quick exit. Did he follow the buses all the way to the services so he could get the praise and attention? The conspiracies continued for the rest of the journey.
I arrived back at 9pm so it was straight to bed with work next day, but a great win and a good Christmas present for every Swans fan. Let’s hope for more of the same on Saturday against Huddersfield, and try to end our jinx of not winning in Yorkshire since 2002 and winning the second successive away game in a week under Kenny.
Ticket: £18
Coach: £15
Programme: £2.50
Total: £35.50
Current Running Total: £597
