Heidi's pre-season Oslo blog
For anyone interested. I know it's a long read and may be ignored but I'll post some photos at the end.
Follow Me and Leeds United blog Season 2023-24
Pre-season tour to Oslo 11th – 13th July 2023
Welcome back to the new season of following Leeds United through my blogs and photos. As always comments about what I do are greatly appreciated and it is lovely catching up and chatting with my followers at games.
I booked my ticket for the Oslo tour before suddenly realising that I needed to get there and hadn’t given it a thought. Luckily, I managed to find decent flights from “Stockport International airport” and booked a hotel near the railway station as I knew someone else was staying there. It turned out to be a very good choice, central, friendly, very clean with a good breakfast provided.
Day one – Tuesday 11th July
After a sleepless night as I knew I needed to be up early, my taxi arrived to take me to Huddersfield train station, and I arrived in plenty of time for my train which was running on time with no strikes. I have a saying that no matter where you are in the world, there is never a Leeds fan far away. I met the first Leeds fan who followed me as soon as I arrived on the platform, another in the shop had bought one of my books and he third was working at the airport. I was then pointed in the right direction by another Leeds fan who was going to be on my plane. As I waited for my flight, more and more Leeds fans arrived to travel on the same plane as well as Adam Pope from BBC Radio Leeds. After catching the express train to the centre, the walk to my hotel was literally a five-minute walk away. I checked in and dropped my luggage off then headed straight to Youngs where LUSCOS, the Scandinavian branch of Leeds United fans, had put an event on for all Leeds fans arriving for the game. Adam Pope was in the same hotel as I was, and we both headed out to the venue at the same time. Due to the inclement weather forecast this had been changed from an earlier outdoor pub to indoors because as soon as we arrived, so did the rain! It also meant it was nearer to my hotel and didn’t take long to walk to.
We had fantastic hospitality shown by our Scandinavian fans and there were lots of flags hung up around the room. Entertainment was by a guitarist singing Leeds songs amongst others and there was a great atmosphere. The new Leeds kit was on sale that had been launched that day along with some LUSCOS items. This was when I realised that I had messed up, as I had only brought cash with me and found out that the bar only accepted card. I am very grateful for those fans who looked after me during my stay although I only drank either diet coke or tap water with ice. I kept chatting to lots of fans during the evening and it was nice that so many of our Scandinavians warmly greeted my appearance in their country. It was back to normal very quickly as I chatted to lots of our fans and took photos once again. Eventually Mick Hewitt’s trip arrived too, and I stood talking to Nikki and Katy for a while before suddenly feeling weary. I was going to head back to my hotel but got chatting to Cato, Gary Edwards and others. As the pub we were in was shutting and as I wasn’t sure about walking back to the hotel late at night on my own, Cato offered to see me back. Instead, we headed to another pub, and I went with them as I got a second wind as I woke up again. I eventually left them all at 1pm and Cato gave me directions back to my hotel and after going three blocks down the road and two and half to the left, I arrived at my hotel.
Day Two – Wednesday 12th July
After a good night’s sleep, I headed down for breakfast and I met Roy from the branch I travel with as he got out of the other lift at the same time as me, so I sat with him. The food was lovely, and the staff were very keen to keep things clean and cleared the table as soon as I had finished. I arranged to meet Cato as he said I should do some sightseeing which to be honest I hadn’t thought of but am so glad I did as we headed to the harbour and Opera House. Again, this was only five minutes away from the train station. We met up with his friend Paul who was helping with the organising of the event at the ground and had a drink before we all went our separate ways. A big thank you to Cato for helping me with the information desk and pointing me in the right direction for the sports shop which were for the first time stocking the Leeds United kits in Norway. As the shop accepted cash, and I was spending very little, I decided to treat myself to the new shirt and blue training rain jacket. The tram journey was six stops away from where I was, but it would have been too far to walk there and back before the game later in the day. After making my purchases I headed back to the tram and called into a little coffee shop next to the tram stop which took cash, before heading back to the centre. I decided to walk up to the King’s Palace which Cato had mentioned and as I walked along the street, heard Leeds fans singing outside a bar. As usual I took photos but carried on up the street where there was a pub of man u fans. There wasn’t any bother from any of them as the majority of their fans were from Scandinavia with not many travelling from the UK by the look of it. I decided to travel to the ground early as there was to be singing on the pitch with the same Leeds fan with his guitar as yesterday and went back to the information desk for help. Both the metro journey and tram journey only cost 40 kroner for each journey there and back which I didn’t think was bad (approx. £4) plus the express train worked out at approx. £20 for a return journey. The public transport in Oslo was brilliant in comparison to the UK which for us is quite sad.
As we got off the metro and started walking up to the ground, the heavens opened. I should have put the rain jacket on straight away then but didn’t do that until I was soaked through as I got to the LUSCOS stand where I met Anders who was doing lots of the organising. After wandering about for a while, speaking to a few of our fans and waiting for our players to arrive, I thought I’d queue up to get in the ground early. With long queues outside, there was an Apple shop, so I quickly bought a charger before joining them. Guess which numpty queued up at the wrong turnstile for an hour? It turned out I wasn’t the only one to do that, but I’d been chatting to a man u woman as her husband was a Leeds fan which passed the time. We couldn’t understand why the turnstiles were still shut with half an hour to go before kick-off especially when there was entertainment on the pitch beforehand plus the weather was atrocious. Eventually we started moving and it was only when I was a few feet away from the turnstiles that I looked at my ticket again only to realise I had seen the row number not the entrance number. Sadly, by the time I got into the ground at the correct entrance (to make things worse I’d seen some I knew going in there earlier), I had missed all the singing. I couldn’t believe that I had gone there early to be part of this and had missed it by my own stupidity. Luckily, I managed to put my flag up at the front and then sat next to Nikki as there was a spare seat next to her. A woman with her son in a wheelchair had been given a fold up chair to sit on next to her son so I had her seat rather than go up into the stand. The number of Leeds United flags everywhere were good to see and that’s one thing we did outnumber man u with.
Team:
First half: Kristoffer Klaesson, Liam Cooper (captain), Leo Hjelde, Cody Drameh, Jeremiah Mullen, Jamie Shackleton, Darko Gyabi, Ian Poveda, Georginio Rutter, Luis Sinisterra, Sam Greenwood.
Second half: Dani Van den Huevel, Luke Ayling (captain), Cody Drameh, Archie Gray, Lewis Bate, Mateo Joseph, Pascal Struijk, Kris Moore, Patrick Bamford, Daniel James, Joe Gelhardt.
Leeds lost the game 2-0.
Attendance: 25,816
Referee: R. Saggi.
Ground: Ullevaal stadium.
Manager: Daniel Farke.
Can we please as a fan base, get a better repertoire of songs. We have so many songs to choose where we get behind Leeds United and it makes us a force to be reckoned with as we did in the 70s and 80s. Pre covid times too it was better when all said and done. What started as banter between the Leeds fans and man u fans in the stand to our left, went too far as far as I’m concerned, and I hated it. Instead of singing Leeds songs, it was anything but and in the end the terraces became silent. There was nothing from their fans except some clapping nearer the end of the game, but the atmosphere I was looking forward to being was non-existent. Missing that before the game made me even sadder as I was looking forward to a sing song although I know that was my own fault sadly.
With our new manager Daniel Farke only installed at the beginning of last week, he has had limited time with the players. With his two successes of promotion with Norwich City, I am hoping this will be third time lucky for him and for once, we are looking like we want to be promoted back to the Premier League at the first opportunity. Obviously, time will tell what happens but the other good thing as far as I’m concerned is the fact that he wants to get the players fit. After Bielsa, our fitness levels have been atrocious as we went from being able to see games out and play for the full game, to not even lasting 45 minutes! It’s no wonder we conceded so many goals last season and were relegated. The writing was on the wall as soon as Marsch cancelled afternoon training and got rid of the sleeping pods at Thorpe Arch that Bielsa installed. We have seen players who had loan clauses in their contracts released with no money coming back into the club and with the takeover still dragging on with the 49ers taking 100% control from Radrizzani, we are still very much in the dark as to who will be staying and who will be going. Those who have left so far are Tyler Roberts, Aaronson, Koch, Roca, McKennie, Rodrigo, Kristensen as far as I can remember.
The game kicked off with our youngsters in place for the first half and Klaesson made a great save to stop them from scoring before they hit the rebound over the bar to the cheers of the Leeds fans behind the goal. Approximately 650 had travelled from the UK with over 6,500 Scandinavian fans with other Leeds fans scattered amongst the opposition support around the ground. Greenwood hit a shot at their keeper after good work from Poveda. The game was quite even as the Leeds team battled to keep them out as we drew the first half 0-0.
The second half saw Drameh being the only person to stay on the pitch, with 10 replacements for the rest of the team. Struijk headed over from a corner that was won by good work between Gelhardt and Ayling before they took the lead. Gray hit a long shot which looked like it was heading straight into the net to equalise but instead hit the outside of the side netting. That was such a shame as he deserved more from that. It just shows that we need to shoot at goal when the opportunity arises rather than try to walk the ball into the net so hopefully, we will see a lot more of this going forward. Bamford rounded the keeper, but the flag was already up for offside so stopped. They got a second goal to seal the win which was disappointing but not unexpected as a lot of fans had expected a hammering.
It had been a good work out at the start of a new season and although we lost possession and gave the ball away many times, I am hopeful that with proper training things will improve. It’s good that we have now got a proper goal keeping coach in too as that has been sadly missing since Marsch took over! At the end of the game the Leeds team came to clap the Leeds fans and then Ayling came towards the corner where I was standing to come and see the little boy in a wheelchair. He saw Nikki and gave her hug before having his photo taken. This was filmed and it was lovely to see it afterwards as I saw I was on there plus my flag. It was only at the end of the game that I started to feel the cold from the soaking I had before the game so put my flag around me. After waiting to see the team off, I headed back to my hotel for a shower to warm up and get out of my wet clothes before doing some more sightseeing. I thought I’d head to Winston’s where I know many Leeds fans had been over the last two days and when I looked where it was on the map, it was a three-minute walk from my hotel. It turned out to be the one which I’d passed earlier in the day with all the Leeds fans in. As I walked in some Warwickshire Whites asked for a photo, so I sat with them. My camera had taken a soaking earlier in the day, so I used my phone instead. It turned out to be a great evening in fantastic company. I may have been the oldest Leeds fan there but, the camaraderie between us all was second to none. We headed to the Irish bar a few doors away at the end of my hotel street where we met some more of our fans and when that shut, we headed back to the Dubliners where we had gone on the first evening. With some of them having to be up at 4.15am to head back to the airport, they were still in the pub as we left at 2am. Thanks to Lottie and another Warwickshire White for walking me back to my hotel as they went for a couple of hours kip. It had been a fantastic night and so unexpected as I hadn’t arranged anything, everything just fell into place as they do when you meet other Leeds fans.
Day three – 13th July
After doing just short of 21,000 steps yesterday, I decided that I had to take things easier today. I had only just stopped using the sticks two weeks ago since my hip replacement in February but had decided I had to get on with things. I’ve done very well since regardless but still have to ensure I don’t overdo things and listen to my body. I had my breakfast where I saw Adam Pope and a Norwegian Leeds fan, I’d seen in the pub the day before. I’d said I was convinced both their goals were offside and he said they were as they’d been replayed on the tv, and the referee was known to support the opposition. It made me feel better re the score to be honest. I decided to head to the airport in good time once I booked out of my hotel at 12 as I didn’t want to walk around with my case. I could have waited a couple more hours in reality especially as the plane was delayed by 30 minutes but I’d rather not risk getting too stressed out and rushing. I sat with Alan and Karen, and they offered me a lift home rather than me getting the train which I gratefully accepted. They also said we were delayed a further 30 minutes due to a security incident when they wouldn’t let a woman board the plane and had to ensure that none of her luggage was on board. We eventually were on the runway when the heavens opened, and thunder and lightening started so I was glad that we waited a while before taking off. Both flights were very smooth, and I managed to sleep both ways but appreciated the free coffee provided.
Once again, it had been a fantastic pre-season tour meeting lots of our fan base and I am grateful for the opportunity to be there. Make the most of life as you never know what is around the corner. My husband is still doing well with his terminal cancer diagnosis having been given 9-12 months to live in November 2021. He gets very tired but in reality, he shouldn’t be here so enjoy yourselves whilst you can is my motto. When things change, I will deal with what is in front of me.
After making arrangements to travel to Scotland on 27th July for the Billy Bremner memorial in Raploch, Stirling, I couldn’t believe Leeds had arranged a further pre-season game against Nottingham Forest at Burton Albion’s ground on that day. It’s such short notice but to arrange it for a Thursday was unbelievable as far as I’m concerned. I know Gary Edwards has cancelled his trip, but I’d paid out for my train fare on top of accommodation so I’ve a dilemma. I don’t want to let down those people I was travelling to Scotland with or miss the game. I also don’t want to lose any money over this so I’m unsure which way it will go at the moment. Hopefully I have now got my Hearts ticket as I had to rely on someone else to get it for me especially as Leeds put the tickets on sale at the same time as my flight took off for Oslo. The club had sold tickets to those of us travelling to Norway so should not have put these on sale on the Tuesday when they knew fans were travelling abroad. That was bad planning from Leeds but from many fans I spoke to, they feel the club don’t care about the fans. That’s the sad thing as far as I am concerned that the togetherness and united feeling, we had under Bielsa have now gone back to the earlier days of it being them and us again. Hopefully, once this takeover has gone through, we can start rebuilding the trust between us fans and the club again because when we are all united and on the same page, we can take on anyone. See you at York, LUFC – Marching on Together!
