Irish Toffees On Tour August 2019 Everton v Watford
Irish Toffees On Tour!
The premier league is back! Everton we’ve missed you!
Our members travel to every game during the season, but we organise a number of trips during the season. First up this year is the first home game of the season, Everton v Watford!
The excitement was building since the fixtures came out and Mick told us there would be a coach/boat trip for the Watford game! Yessss Mick!!! I hastily booked my place. The season started with a nil-nil away to Crystal Palace but Aug 17th was the date with the big circle around it on the calendar in the kitchen. Goodison was calling us home. In the past we had our own legend coach driver Paul who travelled to what felt like every town in Ireland picking us up to bring us to the port, but now we board the boat as foot passengers in Dublin Port at about 7am. The port is a welcoming place with familiar faces and new friends in the making. Mick ticked us all off his list and we all boarded the Ulysses, with the buzz already starting. We all got seats together in the bar and received our breakfast vouchers. It was a beautiful day. Some of us headed up on deck to take in the beautiful view sailing out of Dublin, while others chin-chinned with a few breakfast beers. The Ulysses left Stena behind in its wake.
We began to cash in our breakfast vouchers, most went with a full Irish but healthier options were available too. Super brekkie! Super coffee! Super company! The chat was a mixture of catch-up, getting to know some of the newbies, and wondering whether our new players would get a run out. It was a very calm sailing and before we knew it we were in Holyhead. A bus picked us up from inside the ship and drove us to the terminal building.
The premier league is back! Everton we’ve missed you!
Our members travel to every game during the season, but we organise a number of trips during the season. First up this year is the first home game of the season, Everton v Watford!
The excitement was building since the fixtures came out and Mick told us there would be a coach/boat trip for the Watford game! Yessss Mick!!! I hastily booked my place. The season started with a nil-nil away to Crystal Palace but Aug 17th was the date with the big circle around it on the calendar in the kitchen. Goodison was calling us home. In the past we had our own legend coach driver Paul who travelled to what felt like every town in Ireland picking us up to bring us to the port, but now we board the boat as foot passengers in Dublin Port at about 7am. The port is a welcoming place with familiar faces and new friends in the making. Mick ticked us all off his list and we all boarded the Ulysses, with the buzz already starting. We all got seats together in the bar and received our breakfast vouchers. It was a beautiful day. Some of us headed up on deck to take in the beautiful view sailing out of Dublin, while others chin-chinned with a few breakfast beers. The Ulysses left Stena behind in its wake.
We began to cash in our breakfast vouchers, most went with a full Irish but healthier options were available too. Super brekkie! Super coffee! Super company! The chat was a mixture of catch-up, getting to know some of the newbies, and wondering whether our new players would get a run out. It was a very calm sailing and before we knew it we were in Holyhead. A bus picked us up from inside the ship and drove us to the terminal building.
‘Meticulous Mick’ had everything in hand but he didn’t let his hair down until we were all on the coach that was waiting for us. Next stop would be Goodison Park! Alan was first to test the toilet facilities on board the coach. ‘1st class’ was what he said, but it didn’t stop him spraying some of his homemade pot-pourri. It wasn’t long before everyone was crying out for a few photographs to be taken, so I reluctantly whipped out the camera to search for people’s good sides.
‘Are we there yet’ chants were starting to circulate so Joe distracted us all with his “Isn’t It Jolly-Well Spiffing That The Football Is Back Quiz 2019”. As soon as it was mentioned that there was a £30 drinks voucher for the winner (kindly donated by the Winslow), Paul Clayton Senior leapt into action, morphing into a cross between Andrei Kanchelskis and a Liverpudlian pole dancer, and shot into a seat beside Frank Connolly, the undefeated pub quiz champion. But it wasn’t to be. Joe Bamboozled most of us with his Channel 4 teletext level of questioning, but a tie-breaker question was required as both Alley Pally and Chopper Williamson both finished with the same google-high scores. Chopper for the win!
It’s always special when there is someone on one of our trips for first time, but it turns out, for LONG-time Everton fan Eugene Kearney, it was his first trip to see Everton play at Goodison! Don’t let us down Everton! 😊
‘Are we there yet’ chants were starting to circulate so Joe distracted us all with his “Isn’t It Jolly-Well Spiffing That The Football Is Back Quiz 2019”. As soon as it was mentioned that there was a £30 drinks voucher for the winner (kindly donated by the Winslow), Paul Clayton Senior leapt into action, morphing into a cross between Andrei Kanchelskis and a Liverpudlian pole dancer, and shot into a seat beside Frank Connolly, the undefeated pub quiz champion. But it wasn’t to be. Joe Bamboozled most of us with his Channel 4 teletext level of questioning, but a tie-breaker question was required as both Alley Pally and Chopper Williamson both finished with the same google-high scores. Chopper for the win!
It’s always special when there is someone on one of our trips for first time, but it turns out, for LONG-time Everton fan Eugene Kearney, it was his first trip to see Everton play at Goodison! Don’t let us down Everton! 😊
No coach-karaoke this time around, what I wouldn’t give to hear the sweet sound of ‘My Granny is a Cripple in Nashville’ one more time.. Hell, maybe Duncan has one more Bear Necessities in him. At least Sean Heelan got us going with a few verses of Bob Marley’s classic song Gbamin’. “Gbamin', Gbamin' we hope you like Gbamin' too! Gbamin’
Next thing we knew we were on Walton Lane with The Old Lady looking beautiful in the sunshine. We hopped off the bus, Dave from The Winslow looked after our luggage and we met our man on the ground, Owen Kearney outside, who gave us our match tickets. We all had tickets together in the Upper Bullens! Nice one Everton! Nice one Owen! (I think Owen may be gradually reaching Irish Toffees legendary status set by his late Dad Jim!) There was just enough time to grab a pint and a pie, but I forfeited that to continue my pre-match tradition and go visit the Healy plaques on the Dixie Dean Wall of Fame. I hurried to the turnstile. I didn’t have enough time to grab any grub so I went straight to my seat. I thought I was in luck when I spied a humungous Quality Street Coconut Éclair on my seat! Turns out some fucker had already eaten it! I waved the wrapper in frustration as the team took to the field. The atmosphere was electric!
Next thing we knew we were on Walton Lane with The Old Lady looking beautiful in the sunshine. We hopped off the bus, Dave from The Winslow looked after our luggage and we met our man on the ground, Owen Kearney outside, who gave us our match tickets. We all had tickets together in the Upper Bullens! Nice one Everton! Nice one Owen! (I think Owen may be gradually reaching Irish Toffees legendary status set by his late Dad Jim!) There was just enough time to grab a pint and a pie, but I forfeited that to continue my pre-match tradition and go visit the Healy plaques on the Dixie Dean Wall of Fame. I hurried to the turnstile. I didn’t have enough time to grab any grub so I went straight to my seat. I thought I was in luck when I spied a humungous Quality Street Coconut Éclair on my seat! Turns out some fucker had already eaten it! I waved the wrapper in frustration as the team took to the field. The atmosphere was electric!
We started with great energy and pace and it wasn’t long before Watford were complaining to the ref looking for their own ball. Ten minutes in and a peach of a pass from Lucas Digne had the ball drop into Bernard’s path in front of us in the Upper Bullens stand. Bernard is oozing with confidence so it was no surprise to see him skip into the box, cut in past Kikof and beat the keeper! Goodison went crazy! 1 nil! I think Alley Pally threw me in the air, at least once! Come on You Blues! We might get a few today!.. Gbamin looked great early doors (unbeknownst to us all Dave Kelly wrote out the lyrics to Gbamin’ on four hundred post-its on the coach, Frank Connolly folded them into paper airplanes and distributed them to fans as far as he could, but somehow the chant still didn’t ’take off’). With that, our energy and guile faded away as the half went on. Playing out from the keeper inside our own box gave us a few scares, but apart from two great saves from Pickford we didn’t have much to worry about. At half time the Big screen remembered Blues that we lost during the summer, including Reverend Harry Ross. 2nd half was more of the same. DCL worked his socks off but he didn’t have much to play with. Gomes was a joy to watch at times, but Bernard was man of the match. Moise Kean came on for the last 20 min and injected some fresh pace to the game. He could have stolen the show with a shot that rolled the wrong side of the post. Watch this space.. Not the best of wins, but a win is a win! And we have another week to allow the new boys to gel with their teammates. It feels like a few years since the words ‘Fortress Goodison’ have been mentioned, so not having conceded a goal at Goodison since February 6th is very promising.
Back to the Winslow to celebrate the win! No surprise, but the Winslow staff looked after us so well yet again, with Dave’s grenade-launcher- turned-sandwich-shooter keeping our mouths full anytime we lowered our pint glass. The disco dance off between the Russian and Belgian Toffees had us mesmerised, and the Winslow was buzzing. Joe had his well known sharpie with him and was autographing people's match programmes, culminating in him signing a Kevin Sheedy canvas as if Sheedy had signed it himself, the cheek! Winslow Dave was unimpressed with Gylfi’s performance and had locked him in one of his pole dancing cages. We had to move fast, so Joe pulled out some unused Bamboozle questions from his Bob Latchford boxers and distracted Dave, while Donna unlocked Gylfi’s cage and we all jumped in a taxi into town. Close one!
Back to the Winslow to celebrate the win! No surprise, but the Winslow staff looked after us so well yet again, with Dave’s grenade-launcher- turned-sandwich-shooter keeping our mouths full anytime we lowered our pint glass. The disco dance off between the Russian and Belgian Toffees had us mesmerised, and the Winslow was buzzing. Joe had his well known sharpie with him and was autographing people's match programmes, culminating in him signing a Kevin Sheedy canvas as if Sheedy had signed it himself, the cheek! Winslow Dave was unimpressed with Gylfi’s performance and had locked him in one of his pole dancing cages. We had to move fast, so Joe pulled out some unused Bamboozle questions from his Bob Latchford boxers and distracted Dave, while Donna unlocked Gylfi’s cage and we all jumped in a taxi into town. Close one!
Back to the Winslow to celebrate the win! No surprise, but the Winslow staff looked after us so well yet again, with Dave’s grenade-launcher- turned-sandwich-shooter keeping our mouths full anytime we lowered our pint glass. The disco dance off between the Russian and Belgian Toffees had us mesmerised, and the Winslow was buzzing. Joe had his sharpie with him and was autographing people's match programmes, culminating in him signing a Kevin Sheedy canvas as if Sheedy had signed it himself, the cheek! Winslow Dave was unimpressed with Gylfi’s performance and had locked him in one of his pole dancing cages. We had to move fast, so Joe pulled out some unused Bamboozle questions from his Bob Latchford boxers and distracted Dave, while Donna unlocked Gylfi’s cage and we all jumped in a taxi into town. Close one!
The action continued and the memories of the game improved with every drink. We danced the night away. Gbamin’ Gbamin’ Gbamin’…….
Many thanks to all involved in making it another memorable #IrishToffeesOnTour weekend! Thanks to those on the Irish Toffees committee who give their time freely to run the club. Thanks to Mick for organising the trip, to Owen for sorting out all the payments and sorting out great match tickets, to Stuart for sorting the memberships, to Dave and all the staff in the Winslow, to Quiz master Joe for keeping us entertained on the bus, to the staff of Irish Ferries who looked after us on the ship, to the coach drivers who got us to Goodison safely and on time, and to all who traveled! I'll update this list of thanks when you tell me who I've forgotten!
Until the next trip!
Oh Everton we love you!
Ronan (Some memories from the weekend are a bit murky so they may have not played out exactly as described above!)
PS. Would you like to be on our next trip to see Everton? Join today!
PPS. Check out other reviews from previous trips here!
The action continued and the memories of the game improved with every drink. We danced the night away. Gbamin’ Gbamin’ Gbamin’…….
Many thanks to all involved in making it another memorable #IrishToffeesOnTour weekend! Thanks to those on the Irish Toffees committee who give their time freely to run the club. Thanks to Mick for organising the trip, to Owen for sorting out all the payments and sorting out great match tickets, to Stuart for sorting the memberships, to Dave and all the staff in the Winslow, to Quiz master Joe for keeping us entertained on the bus, to the staff of Irish Ferries who looked after us on the ship, to the coach drivers who got us to Goodison safely and on time, and to all who traveled! I'll update this list of thanks when you tell me who I've forgotten!
Until the next trip!
Oh Everton we love you!
Ronan (Some memories from the weekend are a bit murky so they may have not played out exactly as described above!)
PS. Would you like to be on our next trip to see Everton? Join today!
PPS. Check out other reviews from previous trips here!
