Have you ever got lost going to a game.

Big_Flag_Man

Big_Flag_Man

Well-known member
The only time I can recall is when we went to Dorchester to watch the Pool play Bournemouth. Was on The Tango Juniors coach on our way home and the driver had a photocopy of a map and got lost, I have never seen Salisbury Cathedral so much. Kept driving around in circles didn't have a clue where we were going. Eventually got home about 2 in the morning, at least we won 1-0 Hillsy pen. 😂 Happy times.
 
Yep a few times on the coach from the club in the 80's and also they missed the turn on the M6 not once but flaming twice a few years ago.
 
Derby. Drove all the way round the ring road!! Didn't realise the ground was in the city centre.
 
Going to Scunthorpe from NE Cambridgeshire via Lincoln, before satnav, arrived on the outskirts and we stopped to ask directions from 2 girls who replied that they couldn't help because they never went there, drove round Scunthorpe till we managed to find the ground only to discover that if we had taken the motorway we would have driven straight there!
 
I could not find Chesters new stadium, when i finally did all the turnstiles were locked. I saw the last 10 min of the 1st half
 
Not me personally but when I used to go watch us here there and everywhere i remember playing Cardiff away at Ninian Park and the coach driver took the wrong route 😡got into the ground not far off half time,Murphy equalised in the last minute though so not all bad 👍🏼but what a terrible journey 👎🏼
 
Even though there never used to be Sat Nav, there did used to be very tall flood light pylons which were basically what you looked out for. A lot of old grounds tended to be quite central, so not that far from the train station. Either you spotted the pylons as you came into town on the train or asked a local the rough direction of the ground and looked out for them as you set out on foot (first making sure the local you asked didn't look like a member of their hooligan gang).
 
Yep got to Hull at half time. Pool 3-0 down and fans streaming out. Think we lost 3-2 and hit a post late on.
 
No, but when I was a schoolkid and going to games meant everything, missing one was always my anxiety dream! It always used to be home games too for some reason!
 
The one that stands out was the Anglo Italian Cup Final in Rome, the trouble was we got disorientated going into too many bars and we ended up at an nearby Athletics Stadium.
How we managed to find the Stadio Olympico still baffles me.
 
Barnsley always seems obvious from above but once you get into the dip it seems to disappear.
 
Couldn't find my car after coming out of Brunton Park one night. Had arrived late and parked it in first parking spot I saw without noting the road . Nearly 11 pm before I found it.
 
As a very naive 15 year old on probably my first visit unsupervised to London, Tottenham Hotspur v Blackpool got of the tube at Tottenham Court Road and asked for directions. Bought a copy of the News Chronicle Football Annual that gave directions to all the grounds after that.
 
Yes.

'Follow a scarfer' 3 times.

Wigan and Mansfield, both times a bit lost ended up following a home team car that wasn't going direct to the ground.

Best one was Valencia. Asked at hotel how to get there and got on the bus stated. After a few minutes I had the feeling we were going the wrong way when on comes a scarfer complete with tin foil torpedo. Relaxed we waited until he got off and then we did too. He disappeared across a 4 lane commercial district road leaving us to look for the ground. Nothing. Nobody around. Resigned to missing the game we saw an elderly couple, she in a floral dress, he in jacket bow tie, chinos and panama hat. We asked for direction and had to resort to headers, goal celebrations to be understood.

Anyway they pointed and told us where the bus went from and off we went, a 100m later to see a fork in the road with bus stops on both branches. We stayed right and with 20 seconds there were cries of 'NO,NO,NO!'. We turned to see the elderly couple running down the road looking like Del Boy and Rodney in Batman and Robin suits. She linked my arm and he my wife's and escorted us to the right bus stop where he enlisted a local girl, 20s, to make sure we got off at the right stop.

The bus pulled up right by the stadium, before we got up the girl turned and told us this was the stadium, slight smirk on her face.

It was 9:55 and we'd no idea where we were going, so I asked a Policeman to which his reply, and this is no word of a lie, was 'i'm not from round here'. The turnstile was the second one which was good.

Once inside we got to our seats to be met with another cry of 'NO,NO,NO!'. We looked around and this time it was an old dear in her 80's I'd guess who handed us newspaper explaining 'Bird Shit'. She wasn't wrong.

The journey back in a taxi took 5 mins.

Also Cambridge when Astley Tours decided a Tesco car park similar to Clifton Dr was an actual road.
 
Bristol Rovers when they played at Twerton Park,,,first time I had driven there ,,,going around and around ,!,ended up arriving pretty late ,,,turnstiles closed,,they let me in side gate ,,,
 
Managed to get lost going to Maine Road when we played City in the late 90's (the league game)

No A-Z in the car and some naughty Mancs giving us false directions. TUT!
 
Crystal Palace around 1980-when they only had the North and South Circular Roads for getting around. Went to Fulham -poor directions- who were playing Newcastle and had to scarper quick,but ended up at Selhurst Park around 3.30pm.
Parked somewhere close to the ground which was surprising to find, but ended up in a big punch up with their fans coming away.

Always found South East London quite verminous with them and Millwall-must be something they put in their tea.
 
Good off topic story from a mate who went on a Lancashire cricket supporters coach to watch a T20 finals day at the Oval. As ever, Lancs game started first at 1130, so they started early. Pitched up at Old Trafford. A 16 seater minibus turned up to take him, his lads and a few others just as most other buses were leaving. The driver had never been south of Northwich. He didnt have a sat nav. He decided the best way to get there was to follow the coach in front. This presented challenges when he came to navigate London traffic....As ever it seems with Lancs it was a case of bail out of the coach 10 minutes before the start and leg it to the ground to make the start...
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Even though there never used to be Sat Nav, there did used to be very tall flood light pylons which were basically what you looked out for. A lot of old grounds tended to be quite central, so not that far from the train station. Either you spotted the pylons as you came into town on the train or asked a local the rough direction of the ground and looked out for them as you set out on foot (first making sure the local you asked didn't look like a member of their hooligan gang).
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Yes, always used to head towards the city centre and look out for the floodlights (evening games were easy!) and groups of people wearing home colours walking towards the ground. If this not possible then followed cars displaying home scarves a few times but always had to be careful in case they were off away from the ground to pick up their mates. Asking directions is an absolute no no for men of course 😆

Got lost many a time back in the 80s and 90s, far too many to mention.
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Even though there never used to be Sat Nav, there did used to be very tall flood light pylons which were basically what you looked out for. A lot of old grounds tended to be quite central, so not that far from the train station. Either you spotted the pylons as you came into town on the train or asked a local the rough direction of the ground and looked out for them as you set out on foot (first making sure the local you asked didn't look like a member of their hooligan gang).
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Following the floodlight pylons at a night match isn't always a good idea. I did it at Halifax yonks ago and found myself at a railway yard. I missed a few minutes but that included Blackpool's first goal.
 
Not too a game, but on the way back from one.

Ashton Gate in the first season back in the Championship. I knew it was hard to get a cab and as there was plenty of time to get to Temple Meads for the train back to London, I told my mate (Bowbell) that we could walk it back and it would be fine (I'd done it a couple of seasons earlier). Something went wrong because we ended up on a massive council estate that was nowhere near Temple Meads. It was before Uber or smartphones as standard. We ended up ringing a mate so he could Google cab firms in Bristol and text us the numbers.
 
Bolton away as a teenager driving a banger, had no brakes but thought we would be ok, started raining came down hill into Bolton traffic backed up, stuck hand brake on and skidded all over slip road. Followed a car with a pool scarf, unbeknowns to me They had seen the handbrake turns and thought I was a sycho so tried to lose me and drove into an open market, I followed, finally ground to a halt and I tapped on there window to ask if they knew where they were going and the story unfolded! Was I following anyone off here? Would of been circa 34 year ish ago
 
BigHandsOliverKahn said:
Even though there never used to be Sat Nav, there did used to be very tall flood light pylons which were basically what you looked out for. A lot of old grounds tended to be quite central, so not that far from the train station. Either you spotted the pylons as you came into town on the train or asked a local the rough direction of the ground and looked out for them as you set out on foot (first making sure the local you asked didn't look like a member of their hooligan gang).
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Yep. Went to a night game at Millmoor. Looked for floodlights and ended up at Tinsley marshalling yards.
 
Coming away from Wembley after the Torquay defeat, our driver decided to follow the coaches in front. We were on the M4 on the way to Bristol before he figured out it was a Torquay coach. Got back to Bloomfield Rd for the drop off around 6.00am in broad daylight.
 
End of season game at Lincoln (the one with the false pitch invasion). One of the occupants of my car had been to Lincoln before and insisted he knew the way. He also insisted on sticking his head out of the window and waving to the multitudes of vehicles bearing tangerine scarves yelling "Follow us we know where we are going".

He confidently instructed me to turn left and I did so followed by a dozen or so cars full of eager Seasiders. Sadly confidence turned to embarrassment when we reached the end of the dead-end he'd sent us and a good proportion of our away support down. We and all the poor saps that had unwisely decided to follow us had to make an awkward 3-point-turn on a narrow residential street with cars parked on both sides.

Felt like we were getting dirty looks off people all game.
 
Huddersfield night match somehow. Remember parking the car, if you can call it parking 🥴 very dubiously and legging it to the ground.
 
Returning from Euston after a Lancs B & H win at Lords in ‘84, got as far as Stockport when the tannoy announcer said the driver didn’t know the route back to Blackpool so we had to wait hours for a relief driver to take us back to Blackpool North. Lots of Pool fans on the train so I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who posts on here on that journey.
 
L’étranger said:
Returning from Euston after a Lancs B & H win at Lords in ‘84, got as far as Stockport when the tannoy announcer said the driver didn’t know the route back to Blackpool so we had to wait hours for a relief driver to take us back to Blackpool North. Lots of Pool fans on the train so I’m sure I wasn’t the only one who posts on here on that journey.
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Train drivers don't actually steer don't you know!
 
Hull City away in the FA CUP 1971. No M62 back then. I went with my dad by bus from the Standerwicks stand on Dickson Road. The only stop was at the pub just outside Guisburn, can't remember the name was it the Victoria?, but the landlord shut the pub when a bus full of Barcodes arrived coming the opposite way on their way to Merseyside. Picture about 100 blokes peeing into the brook that flowed in front of the pub. The bus driver took a couple of wrong turns somewhere along the route, and we went through York arriving at the ground approx 15 minutes before the start of the game. A quick bottle of Hull Brew quenched our considerable thirst. We lost 2-0 and the journey home was considerably better, stopping in Otley for a pint or two plus fish and chips. A day I will never forget. We were late home but fortunately, I worked at the Carlton Hotel so we were able to have a pint or two in the residents' bar after the day's events.
 
SeasideTizz said:
Not me personally but when I used to go watch us here there and everywhere i remember playing Cardiff away at Ninian Park and the coach driver took the wrong route 😡got into the ground not far off half time,Murphy equalised in the last minute though so not all bad 👍🏼but what a terrible journey 👎🏼
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I was on that coach. The driver clearly wasn’t a football fan cos he went to the Millennium Stadium instead of Ninnian Park. Everyone was FUMING. Remember the club giving everyone free coach travel as compo
 
Mark Radcliffe tells the story of how when he worked for Piccadilly Radio he was charged with meeting Bros and their entourage (4 cars) at Man airport before bringing them to the studio for an interview prior to a big gig.

Straight from the airport he led them into a scrap yard.
 
Athers said:
I was on that coach. The driver clearly wasn’t a football fan cos he went to the Millennium Stadium instead of Ninnian Park. Everyone was FUMING. Remember the club giving everyone free coach travel as compo
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That’s bloody right athers millennium 😂👍🏼some heated words was exchanged that’s for sure.
 
Got lost going home after Burnley away a number of years ago.
In a minibus with about 56/7 from Beds area. We got to the minibus and asked a copper the way to the M6'
he gave vague directions and we got lost. Finished up on the M1 near Sheffield I think.
Got home about 01.00am. I think we lost 1-0. 🙄
P.S. I wasn't driving.😉
 
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