It was a footballing weekend as Rangers came to Town for the Emirates tournament. Two double headers in two days, and a chance to see how the Scottish champions would fare against Arsenal, Paris St Germain and Atletico Madrid.
My brother Nigel came down with tickets, and shortly after midday on Saturday we set off for the first day. Our seats were right at the back, but we were able to move forward to empty seats much nearer the front. The view was fantastic.
The football was less fantastic. Rangers beat PSG 1-0 in a dull encounter that had pre-season friendly written all over it. Tidy in possession but not much in the way of action. The decent sized Rangers support did its best to liven things up and we had a good singalong - the only problem being the paucity of songs that aren't anti-catholic which, frankly, embarrases me as a Rangers fan. A shame, because some of the tunes are quite good. Arsenal then beat Atletico Madrid 2-1 with all the goals coming in the last 5 minutes... just after I'd received a text from James to say that he and his mate had left to get the tube.
On Sunday we watched a very entertaining PSG v Atletico game while the atmosphere built up for the main event; Rangers v Arsenal. All the noise was coming from a full Rangers end, but unfortunately it didn't take long for spirits to be dampened. Just 2 minutes in fact when Eduardo - offside by the way - laid off nicely to Wilshere to slot home. What a player he is, by the way. Less than 10 minutes later Eduardo scored and the game was over as a contest.
Arsenal showed the gulf in class between the English and Scottish leagues and when Wilshere scored a third nobody could say it was an unfair reflection of play. Rangers should have scored at least one but poor finishing saw to that.
We did at least win the battle of the supporters - singing for most of the game while the best Arsenal could do was the Mexican wave, which has no place in football. Once again, though, I was reminded how unpleasant some of the Rangers support can be. Thankfully there are also many decent ones who made the long journey down t support their team.
In the end, it wasn't the greatest of tournaments and a disappointing second day but a rare chance to see the Gers. A chance, also, to see a free-flowing Arsenal side that will excite again this year. Next up, Man City at Ibrox.
So, I'm sitting at the computer in our next door neighbours' house in Foix, that they've let us borrow for a couple of weeks.
Tomorrow, we drive to Collioure on the Mediterranean coast for a couple of days by the sea, then back here. I'll stop at my favourite Caves and let the owner guide me through some of the best of the local wines with a view to trying some out in the remainder of the holiday. Forgive me if I don't blog very much until I get back.
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