LGFOX
Roofer
As some of you now know, I managed to get to Wembley yesterday to watch us progress to the final. Not sure if you’re interested but I thought I’d give a little synopsis of the day.
First of all the tickets. My best mate, a Leicester fan, lives in Willesden which is obviously in the Brent Council area. He was allowed to apply for a ticket plus a guest. The guest didn’t have to live in the area. I believe there was some kind of ballot, but anyway he got two tickets. I had to take a home Covid test on Friday two days before the match, and then have another At a test centre no earlier than 1530 on Saturday. They were very specific about the time, any earlier would make the test invalid
It was all a very surreal experience. Goodness knows how many times I’ve been to Wembley, but this was uniquely different. Arrived from my friends place in Willesden on an empty tube, walking up a pretty much empty Wembley way, with more police and stewards than fans. Arrived at the Covid checkpoint, where I was asked for my email or text of my negative test. Remember they made it very clear in the ticket arrangements that you had to get your test after 1530 on Saturday.
It’s why I had mine done at 1545, the last test of the day at my test centre. All the guy checked was the date, not the time, and whether it was negative. I asked him do you want to check my name on the email against the name on my ticket. No mate not interested in that. And off we went. A simple copy and paste or forward email job would have sufficed. I could’ve been Boris Johnson on there! Once inside the concourse was pretty empty. Only thing that’s changed in there is all the prices have gone up. Water taken off you, (this happens at no other ground if you have the top off) , at the security point/scanner so you had to purchase a Wembley branded half litre of water costing £2.80. A can of Budweiser £6!!
Inside you had to sit at least one seat away from other people, even if you were in the same bubble as them. They were very strict about this. Row in front and behind both empty. No club colours. I put my Leicester flag out on the row in front. Nobody cared, in fact I asked the steward and he said it was fine. Then along came Mr high viz with his senior steward on the back, ordering people including a young girl with her Southampton top on to remove it. Same as our flag. I had my Leicester BR T-shirt on. .He asked me to remove that but I said it’s just a blue T-shirt. He didn’t notice the badge so I got away with it. As I said all a bit strange. I’m amazed we were allowed to cheer the goal!
All in all an interesting experiment, but considering how they were inside the ground, the fact that the Covid test check which is obviously the most important part of it was so simple to replicate for somebody else seems to sum up this whole COVID year.
Oh and I got my 15 mins of fame. On the tv several times! As one mate said. ‘I saw you more times than Tielemans!’
Finally I also thought of something that I could be unique. I wonder if there is anyone else who went to our last cup appearance at Wembley in 69, and our next one which was yesterday.
First of all the tickets. My best mate, a Leicester fan, lives in Willesden which is obviously in the Brent Council area. He was allowed to apply for a ticket plus a guest. The guest didn’t have to live in the area. I believe there was some kind of ballot, but anyway he got two tickets. I had to take a home Covid test on Friday two days before the match, and then have another At a test centre no earlier than 1530 on Saturday. They were very specific about the time, any earlier would make the test invalid
It was all a very surreal experience. Goodness knows how many times I’ve been to Wembley, but this was uniquely different. Arrived from my friends place in Willesden on an empty tube, walking up a pretty much empty Wembley way, with more police and stewards than fans. Arrived at the Covid checkpoint, where I was asked for my email or text of my negative test. Remember they made it very clear in the ticket arrangements that you had to get your test after 1530 on Saturday.
It’s why I had mine done at 1545, the last test of the day at my test centre. All the guy checked was the date, not the time, and whether it was negative. I asked him do you want to check my name on the email against the name on my ticket. No mate not interested in that. And off we went. A simple copy and paste or forward email job would have sufficed. I could’ve been Boris Johnson on there! Once inside the concourse was pretty empty. Only thing that’s changed in there is all the prices have gone up. Water taken off you, (this happens at no other ground if you have the top off) , at the security point/scanner so you had to purchase a Wembley branded half litre of water costing £2.80. A can of Budweiser £6!!
Inside you had to sit at least one seat away from other people, even if you were in the same bubble as them. They were very strict about this. Row in front and behind both empty. No club colours. I put my Leicester flag out on the row in front. Nobody cared, in fact I asked the steward and he said it was fine. Then along came Mr high viz with his senior steward on the back, ordering people including a young girl with her Southampton top on to remove it. Same as our flag. I had my Leicester BR T-shirt on. .He asked me to remove that but I said it’s just a blue T-shirt. He didn’t notice the badge so I got away with it. As I said all a bit strange. I’m amazed we were allowed to cheer the goal!
All in all an interesting experiment, but considering how they were inside the ground, the fact that the Covid test check which is obviously the most important part of it was so simple to replicate for somebody else seems to sum up this whole COVID year.
Oh and I got my 15 mins of fame. On the tv several times! As one mate said. ‘I saw you more times than Tielemans!’
Finally I also thought of something that I could be unique. I wonder if there is anyone else who went to our last cup appearance at Wembley in 69, and our next one which was yesterday.
