Daily Archives: December 7, 2022

December 7, 2022 · 10:13 pm

Monday, Monday….

Monday morning, 5th December 2022

After the Senegal result, all that was going through my head were these words…

“Monday, Monday (bah-da bah-da-da-da)
So good to me (bah-da bah-da-da-da)
Monday mornin’, it was all I hoped it would be….”

Even if we were on cloud 9, we had a very busy day ahead. Anyone who thinks following England around the world is an holiday, please think again. We needed to get tickets sorted for the France game and change all of our logistics. Plus we had been asked to do some media interviews too.

Kirsty is the one who actually enjoys working with the media and given her background in games PR , that’s not really surprising. She’s much better at doing this stuff than I am and I am a naturally shy person. But we are a team and so I have to do my bit, even if I find it pretty hard to do.

Accordingly, here’s a piece direct from Kirsty who’s joining in with the blog today.

The previous night on the way to the England Game ‘Billy The Bee Grant‘ from the ‘Beesotted Brentford’ podcast messaged me to ask whether I would mind joining him on the Radio 4 Today program live the next morning. They also wanted a woman’s perspective on the England result. Knowing that we were already booked in to do Radio 5 Live with Rick Edwards and Rachel Burden. I knew it would be a tight squeeze if anything ran over but I would give it a go. Billy duly passed my number on to Victoria the Radio 4 producer and she gave me a call for a briefing as we were leaving the stadium. It was quite difficult to hear her, but the general gist was that they had spoken to Radio 5 Live and I could borrow their microphone and WiFi, log into Zoom and the interview could be done directly from Souq Waqif to give us time to get to Radio 5 Live. All sorted.

That all sounds so simple doesn’t it! Well the best laid plans and all that jazz… when we get there all of BBC Radio5 Live’s microphones are in use, no problem though, I’ll use my headphones (which fortunately I have with me) and I’ll speak into my phone. I log into the Zoom link which is working fine and I can hear live Radio 4 in the background. I say hi to the director and wait for mine and Billy’s slot… then disaster strikes! About 30 seconds before we’re due to go live, my WiFi goes down and I can’t hear them and they can’t hear me and I then get cut off from the Zoom!


Just before the interview Andy had gone to sit down next to me and I asked him to ‘go for a wander’ as he would put me off… and now with a technical disaster I was desperately scanning the crowds of the Souq looking for him as I needed his technical help!!! Just then my phone rang and it was the director of the Today program, and cool as a cucumber, he patched me straight onto the live show… disaster averted but my heart wasn’t half thumping!

Kirsty’s live slot on BBC Radio 4 Today was at 7.40am U.K. time which is 10.40am out here. You can listen to that here about 1 hour 43 mins in https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001fvvv

When I finished the interview, I put my phone down and let out a sigh of relief… then the man at the next table turned to me and said “sorry, I could help but overhear, but were you just doing an interview and who was that for?” I told him the Today program and he then said “that’s great, I’m with BBC Breakfast would you mind doing a piece for us please?”

At which point, ridiculously, I said “Sorry but we’re about to go live on BBC Radio 5 Live…and this might be a case of over exposure!” He didn’t seem to mind that we’d managed to shoehorn ourselves into every blinking BBC broadcast going out that morning and he booked us for 11.30am local time following our slot on Radio 5 Live at 11.15am… that seemed doable so we agreed.

Bobbing between interviews with the BBC

We then had great fun with Rick and Rachel, I managed to tell Rachel that I love her and we had a laugh about having to teach the ‘entry level’ chant to the ‘England’ fans around us and that one particular fan had both Senegal and England flags so he couldn’t lose! The interview went on longer than expected as we were having such a laugh and I’d completely forgotten all about BBC Breakfast TV until I could see Nick the Director waving frantically at us as 11.30am was fast approaching and there they were waiting with the camera and presenter checking their watches nervously as we were due to go live on Breakfast TV in about a minute and a half!!!

With the BBC Radio 5 Live team at the Al Bandar Cafe

You can hear our piece on BBC Five Live here – about 2 hrs 22 minutes into the show.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m001ftp7?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

We moved pretty sharpish, straight in front of the camera for the interview with the tallest presenter ever, we didn’t even have time to get nervous, there was a lot of talk about honeymoons and camper vans and it was over in a flash.

The BBC Breakfast piece went out live around 8.35am U.K. time and you can see that here.

One of us is never comfortable in front of a camera

Andy had promised fellow football fan, owner of Philosophy Football and author, Mark Perryman that I would get some pictures of me and Kirsty in Philosophy Football T shirts in the best places. He just happened to have their latest World Cup 2022 edition, but he had never realised we would be on BBC TV!

We had bumped into the lovely Peter Lane the previous week walking along the Corniche which runs outside our hotel all along the coast. Peter is a presenter for Channel 5 and asked us if we would do a piece for Dan Walker’s tea time show. True to his word, he called us up and hired a boat to do an interview out on the water.

Not what we expected to be doing on a Monday morning!

It was far more relaxed than going out live and we had a great chat with Peter and Adam, the camera man and we had the bonus of a trip around the harbour on a traditional boat. Peter actually apologised that we didn’t have catering!
Given that were ‘Media Luvvies’ for the day I think I now need a rider.

Being on a boat on the bay in Doha was nice
Peter and Adam a two man force of nature TV production team
Getting the boat moored was a lot of fun too

All four interviews were. done and dusted and we’re free for the day to go and get some lunch and start the nervous hunt for match tickets. And of course, we had to deal with the copious amounts of mickey-taking from back home once we were spotted on the telly. I think we can now call it ‘over exposure’ to the point of saturation, but fear not everyone our 15 minutes will be over by tomorrow and normal service will resume.

It’s Andy here again.

We decided to let Our Joyce know we would be on the telly later that evening. For those who don’t know who ‘Our Joyce’ is, she’s Kirsty’s amazing 92 year old Mum. Our Joyce has been living with us since a week before the original March 2020 lockdown. Our brilliant friend Sarah is looking after Our Joyce whilst we are away and she’s really become part of the family now. Those two do get on like a house on fire.

Last year, Sarah bought Our Joyce an amazing Advent Calendar. It was huge and had the most brilliant presents inside, all of which were useful and mostly edible. Joyce absolutely loved it, so much so, Sarah kindly bought Joyce another one this year. Every day since we’ve been out here, Sarah has filmed Joyce opening the requisite day and sharing the present with us. The videos are always so sweet and, typical of Our Joyce, hilarious. Coco, our jointly owned sausage dog, always makes an appearance too. It’s a lovely thing to look forward to out here each day and always makes us laugh and feel connected.

Kirst and I laughed about whether we would have our very own ‘Gavin & Stacey’ moment on Channel 5. That episode when Gavin’s dad, Mick, played by the brilliant Larry Lamb, (who coincidentally I met on the World Cup in Japan 02) does an interview for the BBC following the discovery of a dead body outside his work in Billericay. Everyone comes around the Shipman’s to watch the BBC 6 O’Clock News and the Welsh side of the family are all sat down with their tea to see Mick’s big moment. As is always the case, what was recorded by the TV cameras was not what was actually broadcast, and Mick’s piece was literally ‘it’s not what you expect to find when you come to work’.

You can see our piece here and make your own minds up. Big thanks to our friends the amazing Martin & Cindy Wright who compiled these clips. Earlier that day Martin was working when Cindy yelled out ‘it’s Andy & Kirsty on TV’! Needless to say Martin worked his magic as always. Thank you!

At 1.30pm we finally finished up our ‘work’ for the morning. We needed food. If only every Monday morning was like this we would all be happy, wouldn’t we?

Ahead of us was the Japan vs Croatia game, which we were really looking forward to. We just needed to Step On as time was slipping away. Oh, and I would get to wear my Japan 02 football shirt. And it still fits. Just about.

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December 7, 2022 · 11:02 am

Freed from the ire……?

Sunday December 4th later on…

It’s that time. The time when a mix of fear, angst and loathing with a dose of hope totally engulfs me. England are playing a knock out game at the World Cup, and we are here. Again. This time it’s Senegal, who I don’t think England have ever played before, and it feels like we are in for a very long night. Win it and we will be one of eight teams left. Lose, and we will be coming home, in our case on Thursday as we have a few more games to see.

Our game kicks off at 10pm and we need to travel to the Al Bayt Stadium which happens to be the furthest away from our base in Old Town Doha. We’ve learned to trust the public transport on this trip, which is all brand new and highly efficient. When money is no object, and the rulers control what gets built, where and when and by whom (all immigrant workers) it’s hardly surprising that stuff gets done and it looks good too.

Smart trains for sure

Nevertheless, we decided to allow a good three hours to get to the game. The Metro runs out of track and tunnel at the Lusail Stadium, so we needed to switch to a shuttle bus to cover the last leg. The Lusail Stadium is the biggest stadium out here, with a capacity of 80,000 and is where the World Cup Final will be played in two weeks time. It naturally looks amazing from the outside and I am sure it is just as amazing inside. What price we can come back for our one and only game at that magnificent looking stadium?

The Lusail Stadium half way to the Al Bayt Stadium

The atmosphere on the Metro was completely different from the night before when it was jam packed full of Argentinian fans chanting and singing their unique football songs. There were loads and loads of England shirts, but very few actual England fans. The Senegal fans were in far better voice. I think it was the first time I’ve been to an England away game and not been surrounded by hoards of fans extolling a mix of hope and expectation, tinged with some real edginess. I have to admit, I felt more relaxed than I had done in the past.

A very quiet shuttle bus this time

We had made the decision to try and wear rainbow gear into the games, in solidarity with LGBTQ+ and women’s rights. But we had also agreed to respect Qatari laws and customs, given the difference of opinion and attitude between both cultures. FIFA had made it clear that to wear rainbow themed clothing was permitted. At the last minute, FIFA then decided to crack down hard on National Football Federations over the wearing of ‘One Love’ rainbow armbands by the team captains, with threats of immediate yellow cards.

I can see a rainbow….

Kirsty had chosen a rainbow feathered head band and I had a rainbow captain’s armband. We both had discrete ‘Rainbow Three Lions’ T shirts too. We got past the three security checks without any issue but as we took our seats, one of the security guards tapped me on the arm and told me that my armband was not allowed. After some polite discussion, the supervisor was called over and they backed down and allowed me to wear it. That was a relief!

Great seats and a great atmosphere

We were surrounded by England fans, but it was clear that for many of them were watching their first England game live. In a trip of coincidences, the two gentlemen sitting next to us were the very same gents who sat next to us at the Argentina vs Australia! Incredible really.

There were two massive banks of Senegal fans off to our left both of whom were on their feet, dancing and singing throughout the whole of the game. They were a complete joy. Most of you would have seen the game, it was close and tense for the first half an hour or so, until Jordan Henderson scored the first goal, shortly to be followed by Harry Kane to make it 2-0 before half time.

Not one, but two banks of singers gave everything to support their beloved Senegal

I have to admit that I have not always been the biggest fan of Jordan Henderson. But I was wrong. Much like another England midfielder who I didn’t rate, a certain Nicky Butt did in Japan 2002, Jordan Henderson has arrived and is doing a vital job for England. Add in Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham who both looked like world beaters and Senegal were dispatched without all of the stress that was usual in these games.

This is an England that is together

One of the Senegal fans sitting behind us with his England fan mates was just brilliant. At half time we all chatted about how the game was going and what may happen in the second half. As calm as you like, the said Senegal fan folded up his Senegal flag and put it in his pocket, casually replacing it with a brand new folded England flag. Quite brilliant.

We ended up winning the game 3-0 and the record books and write ups will make it look all too easy. Each time England scored a goal the PA played ‘Freed From Desire’ a song by Gala from the 90’s. This is not only the anthem of choice for England but has also been chosen by Poland and Switzerland to be played when they scored too. The dance classic was given a new lease of life when Northern Ireland brought their re-worked version “Will Grigg’s On Fire” to the 2016 European Championships. It also gets played at the end of the game, should England, Poland or Switzerland win it.

If you hear this a lot, you will know England have scored a goal

At the end of the game, given the relaxed state we were both in, it did feel like we had at last freed ourselves from the ‘ire’ surrounding England. The players seem to love each other such is the bond between them so all is good in their world, and right now ours too.

On the bus and Metro rides home, I was flicking through Twitter and came across someone called Mike Graham who is some sort of talking head on TV and radio who was getting all political about England’s win. I decided to point a few truths out to him. It didn’t end well for him and he’s since deleted the Tweet that tried to call my support of England into question.

Maybe Mr Graham hasn’t quite freed himself from his own ire. Time will tell, keep an eye on his Twitter feed when England lose and one of our lads misses a penalty. Bless.

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