Forum du FC Metz

Dorking .Eagle's :
Some thoughts regards the trip

Luxembourg, free buses at weekends, very good. Nice clean city with pretty views.

Metz, nice friendly people, didn't see a single policeman all day until the HF arrived with their escort! Local fans in the city centre and outside the ground wanted their photos with us in Palace shirts (had to fulfil 3 x requests from different people!)

Pretty town centre, didn't have long there but walked in a nice park, saw the cathedral and market, the shopping district, and the fountains

Bumped into a few Metz ultras a short distance from the ground and they were perfectly friendly, shared handshakes and bonjours!

Outside the ground very friendly, Palace fans welcome at the stadium bar despite it being clearly separated from the heavily segregated away area.

Into the ground, and we didn't have to faff exchanging the vouchers or tickets, Palace provided 10 familiar and friendly stewards which helped smooth relations with the very officious Metz stewards. Bottles of suncream and all sorts of other contraband was confiscated, but kept for collection at the end of the game!

Palace section had more fences than Arfur Daley's manor(!) but plenty of space for everyone. According to Metz we brought 220 fans out of the 400 spaces we were allocated. Sit (well mostly stand) where you want, to get a view over all the fences. Plenty of room even if the view wasn't perfect. A few Palace fans in red and blue shirts in the home end, Metz didn't mind them being in the North lower stand.

Very hot and sunny, the two minibuses which were delayed by the ferry problems made it at half time to a heroes welcome!

Second half a silly incident where one of the groups of Metz Ultras (they have 2) decided to pinch a Palace flag from the front of the Palace section (apparently pinching flags from opposing supporters is an bit of an Ultras thing) and run round back to their end and wave it around. This really wound up a lot of the Palace fans and the Metz stewards were very jumpy and got way too heavy handed, luckily the Palace stewards were there to calm the situation down.

Palace then scored which helped the situation, and a few minutes later Metz security returned the flag to the Palace section, which had a major positive effect on those angered by the flag being taken in the first place.

Flag taker could then be seen over the side of the stand being taken away in a police car, so international diplomatic incident avoided! Thank goodness it wasn't the Bradley Lowery flag taken which had been hanging in the same place before the game but which was moved to a different location before the unexpected incident! Storm in a teacup albeit with needless pepper spray used sadly which was well over the top by Metz.

Metz scored an impressive equaliser, Palace fans way too hot in the sunshine to make much noise.

End of the game, kept in for about 15-20 mins, was a bit like the 1980's but not a bad idea considering Metz have 2 Ultras groups and the earlier flag business! Palace stewards again present to ensure everyone remained calm and knew it wouldn't be long. Police vans followed the HF away from the ground afterwards and everyone else drifted off in their own separate directions.

Efficient train back to Luxembourg, free bus again to the airport, where all the Palace stewards were getting the BA flight back to Heathrow and the flight home even landed 10 minutes early, with no passport queue at Stansted on our return.

Hope we can be as friendly and welcoming to Schalke fans next weekend!

janof55 a écrit :Il y a un prof d'anglais dans les parages??

champ d'or a écrit :

janof55 a écrit :Il y a un prof d'anglais dans les parages??

Ils sont venus en avion via Luxembourg. Ils n'ont pas eu le temps de beaucoup visiter la ville mais ont trouvé l'endroit sympa et les supporters messins accueillants. L'emplacement du parcage leur a paru correct mais ils semblent marqués par l'épisode du drapeau. Visiblement ils ont été escortés par des stewards anglais pendant tout le voyage et ça a aidé pour calmer d'éventuelles ardeurs.

Arty57 a écrit :Sinon , petite question , j'ai cru voir le président de sainté en sud hier à la fin du match , en descendant des escaliers derrière la sud , j'ai fumé ? si c'était pas lui il lui ressemblait énormément , et y'avait pas mal de monde autour de lui.

beaulier a écrit :

Arty57 a écrit :Sinon , petite question , j'ai cru voir le président de sainté en sud hier à la fin du match , en descendant des escaliers derrière la sud , j'ai fumé ? si c'était pas lui il lui ressemblait énormément , et y'avait pas mal de monde autour de lui.

si ç'etait lui, il devait certainement venir pour superviser Niane.

mangel a écrit :

raphael5477 a écrit :Jouffre est bon quand il joue dans l'axe d'ailleurs il ne l'a pas caché quand il a signé à metz.

Tout à fait d'accord mais derrière DEUX attaquants Roux Niane dans 4/4/2 losange. Mais c'est un système qui n'a pas été travaillé à ma connaissance et c'est dommage!