Pre-season Summer 1980 :
A really gruelling schedule. Train, boat and train to get to the first match against Anderlecht in Brussels. The next fixture was in a suburb of Copenhagen. A friend based in the Army in Germany kindly drove me and another supporter we both knew through the night from Belgium, across Germany and up into Denmark. The match at Hvidovre was only two days after the match in Brussels. Only two days later came the third match on the European mainland in southern Germany against Stuttgart. One of the longest journeys I have ever made by train, almost a full day's travel I think. Watched the match in Stuttgart then straight back overnight by train to the Channel port for a boat back to Kent then train home arriving there less than a week after setting off.
After we had been leading in Brussels Anderlecht equalised to make it 3-3 before being awarded a very cheap penalty-kick by a local referee in the last minute. Arie Haan took it and scored past Ray Clemence. Clem's immediate reaction was to fetch the ball out of his net, walk to the edge of his penalty-area and boot the ball right out of the ground into the street outside. Play was never re-started (they didn't have multiple balls available in those days) and the referee just blew the full-time whistle.
Both the Főrster brothers played for Stuttgart - Karlheinz and Bernhard. I saw a recent video in which Jürgen Klopp mentioned that one of them was one of his favourite players when he was growing up not far away. The brothers, both of whom became full internationals, were together at Stuttgart between 1978 and 1986.
London to Brussels approx. 235 miles, Brussels to Copenhagen approx. 575 miles, Copenhagen to Stuttgart approx. 610 miles, Stuttgart to London approx. 580 miles. Around two thousand miles covered to watch matches on Friday, Sunday and Tuesday (1st, 3rd and 5th of August, 1980).
