Topic: Roma Away - Wednesday 2nd May 7.45pm - Travel Advice in OP

[gnaume]

Just on train home from Manc airport.  Buses and security checks getting in were time consuming and a pain but it did the job of stopping any trouble. Didn't see any problems over the 2 days and nights we were there. The buses dropping us off at Termini after the batch was a bonus.  Shame they have to go to such lengths to protect us from their own fans !

This exactly. Felt safe all the time and didn‘t see any trouble whatsoever. Fucking well in to everyone who was there!

[Stubbins]

And how was His Holiness?

Was he still a bit perplexed at who the famous Man United are?

[swoopy]

Did ID get checked at the turnstiles ?

[hoppyLFC]

Got home around 6 from the day trip with my lad, just woke up, great trip with him again, never saw any trouble, bit of a ballache getting the shuttle buses and getting into the ground even though we went around 6pm.

[hoppyLFC]

Did ID get checked at the turnstiles ?

Ours never, the guy on the first 2 small entranceshad a glance at the tickets, that was it, though 2 lines of quick searches, the que to get through one of the 3 turnstiles and that was it.

[jizzspunk]

The Italian cops pulled out all the stops last night there was even an army presence it was military percision inconvient but safety is more important didn't see one incident.

Spot on...patience required but managed superbly....and the Termini drop off was defo the right call....onto Kiev 

[Rhi]

Did ID get checked at the turnstiles ?

Mine did twice in passing, and my brother's got checked thoroughly by 3 different people. I saw lads initially being refused entry because their ticket didn't match the ID, and they were held to one side for quite a long time, but I saw one of them in the ground later, so he either talked them 'round or they decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

[davidsteventon]

First - I'm made up we won.

Thought Roma flags in their end (well everywhere) looked decent. Some good noise, but then strangely not that much either? Like no European style ultra led noise and not really getting behind the team that much. Maybe it's just the fact they are so far away. Could have been really intimidating and looked mint but lacked something? Sevilla for example felt more intense but then closer I guess.

Anyway. Mixed feelings about the rest of this trip.

Did I feel safe and was I kept safe? Yes. Full credit. The Italian police and club went to great lengths to ensure this. Thanks. Felt similar to Moscow. In the end so safe it ends up being the safest of them all.

But what concerns me is the narrative and all that. Got off the plane - police. Dogs. Plain clothes. People with cameras filming us wherever we went. Look around the plane - most people on that plane will have a boring 9-5 job, earn an average wage, go to the footy and have a clean criminal record - i.e just fairly normal people. You'd think we were a plane full of Britaain's worst criminals. And others see that and the pictures and think that too. It gets set in peoples minds - that's what concerns me - the narrative - you can't undo what people see that easily and their perception.

Yes - felt safe. Thanks. Didn't need to be made to feel like a criminal though. Others will look at that for a long time and take a viewpoint based upon that.


Next up.
Advised to take shuttle buses (from 4pm?). Sound. Go early. Sound. Gates open early (5pm?). Sound. I did all that. About 5:45 I was there for the coaches. Queue and chaos to get onto a coach. OK. Can see the stadium. Queue a bit. Not moving. Over an hour and a bit that took me - 30minutes of those because the next coaches arrived and no organisation so they just joined the front which everyone could see was going to happen but nobody stopped it. Nice one thanks. It was dangerous at multiple points. Some can say it wasn't, but it was. On another day that could have been a disaster. And why? It's pathetic this can't be controlled better.

All that checking. I sort of like the name on the ticket - seems better than any other solution - I'm all for it. Apart from how slow it was. I saw a young lad with his Dad get turned away so yes they were strict early on from what I saw. I felt bad for that, but the advise could not have been clearer.

Also what was with the 90minute SportOptions police escort? It's about 40minutes that journey! Just felt like the longest day for no real reason. Delays and hold ups everywhere.

One of them days for me. Just everything was a ball ache.

However the game was mint and I've got a massive grin across my tired face today.

[Joff123]

Mine did twice in passing, and my brother's got checked thoroughly by 3 different people. I saw lads initially being refused entry because their ticket didn't match the ID, and they were held to one side for quite a long time, but I saw one of them in the ground later, so he either talked them 'round or they decided it wasn't worth the hassle.

Spoke with a few of our stewards and police whilst waiting for a friend to get on the bus (I had his ticket, what a mistake) and they were saying its an Italian regulation for names on the tickets but for this game LFC had asked FIFA/Uefa to waiver this regulation and they had agreed to do this alongside Roma, but evidently had not informed their own stewards last night.

On a different note, what a stadium and what an atmosphere.

[Shanklygates]

Did I feel safe and was I kept safe? Yes. Full credit. The Italian police and club went to great lengths to ensure this. Thanks. Felt similar to Moscow. In the end so safe it ends up being the safest of them all.

But what concerns me is the narrative and all that. Got off the plane - police. Dogs. Plain clothes. People with cameras filming us wherever we went. Look around the plane - most people on that plane will have a boring 9-5 job, earn an average wage, go to the footy and have a clean criminal record - i.e just fairly normal people. You'd think we were a plane full of Britaain's worst criminals. And others see that and the pictures and think that too. It gets set in peoples minds - that's what concerns me - the narrative - you can't undo what people see that easily and their perception.

Yes - felt safe. Thanks. Didn't need to be made to feel like a criminal though. Others will look at that for a long time and take a viewpoint based upon that.

 .....

Also what was with the 90minute SportOptions police escort? It's about 40minutes that journey! Just felt like the longest day for no reaAn l reason. Delays and hold ups everywhere.

Agree with this. Bloody media! An Irish couple were complaining that they couldn't get close to the Trevi fountain due to the barriers around and how it was OUT fault!! "It's to stop you from peeing in the fountain tonight!"  A few Police could do that - like last time! They had their view and it was set. "You don;t want to believe all you hear!"

The SO "tour" into tour was a joke! I fell asleep but woke up "Have we still not got there?" Def went round in a circle! But apart from everything taking ages - the queue for the buses (some nice Italian copper told people to calm down and stop pushing as it was pointless and we were squashed against the police shields at the front to the side); to get in (thought each group did well - ticket checks, steward searches, then Police searches - common sense approaches all round and polite, unlike Seville or Porto), though the turnstiles were the main delay with some just trying to operate them faster than they could manage - our steward there had a system which worked luckily, but was slow compared to PL games. But credit to the crowd - patient, polite, people trying not to split groups up.... Think they all did well.

Absolutely shattered when we got home about 5.30am but MUCH better than we feared and looking forward to Kiev...

[Claire.]

Spoke with a few of our stewards and police whilst waiting for a friend to get on the bus (I had his ticket, what a mistake) and they were saying its an Italian regulation for names on the tickets but for this game LFC had asked FIFA/Uefa to waiver this regulation and they had agreed to do this alongside Roma, but evidently had not informed their own stewards last night.

On a different note, what a stadium and what an atmosphere.

Someone said Roma don't own the stadium, I think it's a bit like Wembley and the London Stadium sort of deal.

[Joff123]

Someone said Roma don't own the stadium, I think it's a bit like Wembley and the London Stadium sort of deal.

Can imagine they have some sort of deal with a third party that links Roma and Lazio without having to directly contact each other. Normally dislike grounds with the running track but didn't feel too far away from the players and the noise was deafening at times. Rats to our left in the stands though lashing cups of p*ss over and doing their usual cut throat taunts and not really watching the match but focusing on our lot.

[redgriffin73]

Also what was with the 90minute SportOptions police escort? It's about 40minutes that journey! Just felt like the longest day for no real reason. Delays and hold ups everywhere.

That was a joke, it was like they purposely took us on the longest possible route to keep us out of the city for as long as possible. Everyone was pretty patient until we'd been around the whole park practically and everyone was hot and just wanted to get off. Lads peeing into bottles on our coach, and in the end some just opened the emergency exit and jumped out so everyone followed, sounded like that happened on a few of them at least. The amount of police cars and riot vans transporting us was so ridiculous you just had to laugh really! We had a police car to escort the airport bus from the departure door to the plane ffs!

Apart from that, and the long wait into the ground (plus the three very detailed searches!) it all passed pretty smoothly I thought. The shuttles to the ground, although a bit of a wait and very hot and slow, were well organised on the whole and that was one of my main concerns beforehand.

[Istanbul Therapy Group]

Can only echo what’s been said above. No incidents anywhere, but the delays and general time wasting was so frustrating and ended up with people arguing and being pissed off.

The Roma fans directly next to us were borderline psychotic. Slitting throats and throwing anything they could.

That photo of one of them who has googled Sean Cox sums it up, animals/lunatics

[Shanklygates]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/43991681

[Booze And Glory]

How long did they keep you all in the ground after the game ?

[AA3JM21]

Was anyone on the bus to the ground last night that Was just constantly stopping in the park for no reason whatsoever? Was absolutely roasting in there

[redgriffin73]

Was anyone on the bus to the ground last night that Was just constantly stopping in the park for no reason whatsoever? Was absolutely roasting in there

Yes! Well, that sounds like our bus anyway! Everyone was dripping with sweat, it was delightful!

[redgriffin73]

How long did they keep you all in the ground after the game ?

Think it was about midnight Italian time.

[Shanklygates]

Was anyone on the bus to the ground last night that Was just constantly stopping in the park for no reason whatsoever? Was absolutely roasting in there

There were several of us, buses all lined up, until a Police van came along and led the way!

A woman by us had brought a battery fan - what a hero!!

[Maggie May]

Was he still a bit perplexed at who the famous Man United are?

Apparently so,  A mate of mine got an audience the other week and was asked if she knew.  Seems like Popes have been pondering this since 1984.

[Birdontheshirt]

How long did they keep you all in the ground after the game ?

We were sitting in our seats in stadium for just over an hour.  It was really appreciated the lads & Jurgen coming out to celebrate with us - helped make the wait feel less. Then there was a slow meander to buses, via collection point to pick up daughters confiscated items. (Confiscated things were all tossed on towels on ground - loads of power banks had been taken - we could have picked up any of them - there was no security over confiscated things). Buses were all full by time we got there so had to wait half an hour just standing in a dark area.  Sardines on buses, 15 min journey, dropped by main station in Rome.  About 2 and a quarter hours from end of match to getting off bus.

[Rush 82]

You think the coppers over there are still waiting for the 1000 LFC Ultras to arrive?

[ant]

I think I was the last one in our end, 1 min before kick-off I went straight through the ticket and ID check to the quick body search, no problem for my power pack and no que, then through the turnstiles.

got in the ground just as we kicked-off.

was on the last bus from the park with the LFC stewards, sound bunch of lads !

[kevlumley]

Beer+chianti+prosecco+limoncelo = disaster

Brilliant, brilliant reds

[weebroalan]

Beer+chianti+prosecco+limoncelo = disaster

Brilliant, brilliant reds

that limoncello was rank. The only low point of the trip!