I leave the house for the 7.15am to St Pancras via Blackfriars giving me enough time to grab a bacon roll and cup of tea before the 8.23 departs from Euston to Wolverhampton. An uneventful journey saw me arrive in Wolverhampton just after 10.15 giving me just enough time to nip to the Moon Under Water on Lichfield Street. First pint and pub tick of the day at 10.20am, today could be a good 'un. The Moon Under Water is a large Wetherspoons in the ground floor of the old Co-op store, my pint costs me just £1.65 with my camra card, bargain.
Back at the station I board the Arriva Wales service from Birmingham New Street to Pwllheli, third stopping being Shrewsbury.
Now the last time I was in Shrewsbury was in January 93 when me and an old pal went to the Shrewsbury Town vs Chester City derby at Gay Meadow, my one and only visit to the old ground but at least I ticked it before it went and the Shrews were placed out of town at the Greenhous Meadow...more on the new ground later. That last visit over 20 years ago had the 2 of us drink ourselves to excess, visit various drinking establishments before retiring to sleep to my car with a kebab in the small hours.
Back to the present day and with the train arriving on time I was in my first Shrewsbury pub by 11.30. The Salopian bar is a corner plot pub with a good range of different ales on. The sun is beating down as I sit outside facing the main road and drink my pint. Next stop the Coach & Horses on Swan Hill followed swiftly by the Admiral Benbow a couple of doors down. The summer is truly with us as I sit in the beer garden of the Benbow with an umbrella up protect me from the mid day sun. 3 pubs ticked already in town before I head off to the Three Fishes on Fish Street via a Cornish pasty stop in the high street, I need something to soak the beer up. It's approaching 1pm as I finish my pint and leave the Three Fishes for pub number 5, The Nags Head on Wyle Cop. The Nags is a small pub with a very large sun trap garden where I sit with other Shrewsbury fans getting ready to see their team play one of European Football's greats.
I leave the pub in search of a taxi to take me to the ground but they are non-existent so I walk over the bridge in the general direction of Greenhous Meadow. A few minutes later I stumble upon the Prince of Wales which is also in the guide (there's 7 in Shrewsbury in total this year), I hadn't planned on getting to this pub so it's a bonus. A chat with the landlord leads me to securing a place on the pubs coach to and from the ground at a cost of just £2.25 return, an absolute bargain. I follow a few locals out of the pub and onto the coach for the 10 minute journey to the ground.
Greenhous Meadow looms up just after a roundabout, for a new ground it's well proportioned with 4 completed stands, all pretty identikit to be honest though.
I wander around taking a few photos, pick up a couple of programmes and pop into the club shop which incidentally looks like its been raided before walking back to the turnstile and enter into the west stand. I can already see there are a few hundred Galatasaray fans in the ground displaying banners and their full colours
Tickets for today's game are £18.00 for adults, which sounds a little high for a
pre season friendly but it's a damn sight cheaper than the £60.00 that AFC
Bournemouth are charging for the visit of Real Madrid later this month.
I take my seat with my individual cottage pie just to the right of the half way line opposite the main stand. There's a decent crowd in the ground and the Turkish fans are certainly putting a show on. The teams are announced and the whole of the Galatasaray team is read out in Turkish by a chap called Muzzy, I don't catch half the names but both Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Elmander are in the starting 11. From the kick off its clear that Gala are here for a victory and the first goal of the game duly arrives on 4 minutes when Emre Colak calmly slotted the ball past Chris Weale following a good passage of play. Shrews continue to play their game with Luke Summerfield having a particularly good game in the centre of midfield just in front of the back 4, picking the ball up from the centre halves at every opportunity and spreading the ball about.
Gala go 2 ahead as Noureddine Amrabat burst's into the box and calmly pushes the ball wide of the outrushing Weale, this is how it stays until halftime but not before the Gala fans light their flares...I bet the locals haven't seen this at Greenhous Meadow before!
I take my seat with my individual cottage pie just to the right of the half way line opposite the main stand. There's a decent crowd in the ground and the Turkish fans are certainly putting a show on. The teams are announced and the whole of the Galatasaray team is read out in Turkish by a chap called Muzzy, I don't catch half the names but both Emmanuel Eboue and Johan Elmander are in the starting 11. From the kick off its clear that Gala are here for a victory and the first goal of the game duly arrives on 4 minutes when Emre Colak calmly slotted the ball past Chris Weale following a good passage of play. Shrews continue to play their game with Luke Summerfield having a particularly good game in the centre of midfield just in front of the back 4, picking the ball up from the centre halves at every opportunity and spreading the ball about.
Gala go 2 ahead as Noureddine Amrabat burst's into the box and calmly pushes the ball wide of the outrushing Weale, this is how it stays until halftime but not before the Gala fans light their flares...I bet the locals haven't seen this at Greenhous Meadow before!
HT: Shrewsbury 0-2 Galatasaray
For a pre season friendly in a very high temperature both teams have played some cracking football in the first half. Fathers and their sons are lining the side of the pitch awaiting the appearance of superstars such as Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba, 2 of the biggest names in European Football if not World Football...soon they will both grace the pitch in a small Shropshire town, bizarre to be perfectly honest but fair play to the teams behind the scenes of both clubs in getting this game on, it's dragged me all the way here and I'm loving it!
The 2nd half commences with both teams making numerous substitutes and immediately it's the hosts that start on the attack and they nearly pull a goal back but for a block by the Gala number 5. Eboue charges down the Shrews left and swings a cross in that is turned around for a corner. From this corner Shrews launch a counter attack but again to no avail..this half has started with end to end action.
Then it happens with barely 20 minutes on the clock the last of Gala's subs are made and here come the 'big guns' both Drogba and Snijider are introduced..the grounds erupts and all of the neutrals (like myself) and young kids are pleased as these 'big guns' strut their stuff on he Greenhous meadow pitch.
Shrews are inches away from getting a goal back after good pressure from Jon Marsden saw him close down the Gala keeper, a midfielder intercepted the clearance and fed it to an onrushing home player who skipped past one challenge and then burst into the box before driving a shot across goal but agonizingly past the post.
With just over 5-minutes of the game remaining Galatasaray grabbed a third goal, a good break down the middle from is thwarted by a great slide tackle on the edge of the box but the luck was with the visitors as the ball rebounded back up and into the path of Kurtulus who drove in a shot that McQuaid did well to block on the line only for Sneijder to be in the right place to smash the ball into the empty net.
The last 5 minutes are played out before the referee blows he's whistle to signal a 1 man pitch invasion!
A decent game of football played in a competitive spirit with a large sprinkling of "Gala's stars on show.
FT: Shrewsbury 0-3 Galatasaray
I depart the ground and board the coach back to the Prince of Wales. Declining a pint I head off on the good 15 minute walk back to Shrewsbury station. There are delays on the track in the Telford area which has me back into Birmingham New Street with just over 10 minutes before my booked train to London Euston. I quickly make my way to Tesco's, grab some sushi and cider (great evening meal!) before settling down on the train.
Thankfully the Virgin service arrives into Euston a few minutes early and bar train delays between Blackfrairs & Sevenoaks I'm back indoors just after 10.30pm. A long day but another worth while trip, another league ground ticked as well as 6 new pubs.
Til the next time.....
For a pre season friendly in a very high temperature both teams have played some cracking football in the first half. Fathers and their sons are lining the side of the pitch awaiting the appearance of superstars such as Wesley Sneijder and Didier Drogba, 2 of the biggest names in European Football if not World Football...soon they will both grace the pitch in a small Shropshire town, bizarre to be perfectly honest but fair play to the teams behind the scenes of both clubs in getting this game on, it's dragged me all the way here and I'm loving it!
The 2nd half commences with both teams making numerous substitutes and immediately it's the hosts that start on the attack and they nearly pull a goal back but for a block by the Gala number 5. Eboue charges down the Shrews left and swings a cross in that is turned around for a corner. From this corner Shrews launch a counter attack but again to no avail..this half has started with end to end action.
Then it happens with barely 20 minutes on the clock the last of Gala's subs are made and here come the 'big guns' both Drogba and Snijider are introduced..the grounds erupts and all of the neutrals (like myself) and young kids are pleased as these 'big guns' strut their stuff on he Greenhous meadow pitch.
Shrews are inches away from getting a goal back after good pressure from Jon Marsden saw him close down the Gala keeper, a midfielder intercepted the clearance and fed it to an onrushing home player who skipped past one challenge and then burst into the box before driving a shot across goal but agonizingly past the post.
With just over 5-minutes of the game remaining Galatasaray grabbed a third goal, a good break down the middle from is thwarted by a great slide tackle on the edge of the box but the luck was with the visitors as the ball rebounded back up and into the path of Kurtulus who drove in a shot that McQuaid did well to block on the line only for Sneijder to be in the right place to smash the ball into the empty net.
The last 5 minutes are played out before the referee blows he's whistle to signal a 1 man pitch invasion!
A decent game of football played in a competitive spirit with a large sprinkling of "Gala's stars on show.
FT: Shrewsbury 0-3 Galatasaray
I depart the ground and board the coach back to the Prince of Wales. Declining a pint I head off on the good 15 minute walk back to Shrewsbury station. There are delays on the track in the Telford area which has me back into Birmingham New Street with just over 10 minutes before my booked train to London Euston. I quickly make my way to Tesco's, grab some sushi and cider (great evening meal!) before settling down on the train.
Thankfully the Virgin service arrives into Euston a few minutes early and bar train delays between Blackfrairs & Sevenoaks I'm back indoors just after 10.30pm. A long day but another worth while trip, another league ground ticked as well as 6 new pubs.
Til the next time.....
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