Svenska FPL Podden@PoddenFpl
🏴⚽️WE HAVE DONE IT AGAIN! ⚽️🏴
Another podcast trip can now be added to the list of phenomenal football-themed experiences. For the fifth year in a row, we at @PoddenFpl brought a large group of listeners to London for a long weekend of watching football, socializing, and discovering everything the city has to offer. This year we went all out, and in total, we were 5⃣0⃣(!) people in the party. But let’s take it from the beginning…
The podcast was represented on this trip by @Norrstroem, Stefan Knutsson, and @ASilversten. As early as Thursday evening, we gathered at Alex's place to catch the 07:00 flight✈️to Heathrow, London, in the early hours of Friday morning. Upon arrival, we made our way to our regular hotel, the Royal National🏨, and after dropping off our bags, we set our sights on a full day by the Thames. First, we had an always-pleasant lunch at the Borough Market food market, and then we took a short walk to the wonderful Bierkeller Bermondsey. One of London's coolest underground pubs, which, in addition to great beer and drinks, gave us the opportunity to throw darts, play shuffleboard, and even try axe-throwing 🪓🎯with an instructor. The prize for a 180 score? A Jäger shot!
After a few hours hanging out at the Bierkeller, we stopped by the hotel and then got ready for another recurring spot on these trips—the lovely 🇨🇮 Waxy O’Connors 🇨🇮, which turns into a sort of pub/club fusion during the final hours before closing. The large balcony floor was reserved for our group, and you can probably guess who owned the dance floor🕺when the troubadour started the live music🎸🎶. From Waxy’s, parts of the group continued out into the London night, and the nightclub O’Neills proved enticing once again on this trip.
On Saturday, 1⃣1⃣ people in the party, led by Alex, took the train to Birmingham to see Aston Villa vs. Leeds, while Stefan and I were part of the group of 2⃣4⃣ who set course for The Den to see Millwall vs. Portsmouth. The Birmingham group had a memorable trip, to say the least, which Alex summarizes like this:
From London Euston, we headed toward Birmingham, and on the train ride there, the atmosphere was at its peak with quizzes, 🍺,🍸, and🥜. Once there, the club shop outside Villa Park had to be visited, shirts purchased, retro jerseys photographed, and of course, a little hug-fest with Villa's club mascot! 🦁Naturally, there was a TV commotion 📸📺when the Swedish FPL Podcast visited the village, with TV crews and autograph hunters crowding to get a piece of us. Despite the TV buzz, we weren't allowed into The Holte Pub, where only season ticket holders have access—but it was worth a try anyway…
And the stadium, Villa Park? The most powerful thing we’ve ever experienced, like a temple for worshiping the sport we all love, with features such as golden lion statues, mosaic stairs, church windows, the gates of heaven—simply a brick architect's masterpiece. For some, it was standing room in the lower section of the home end, while others sat right at the halfway line in the best seats in the stadium. 🤩When heart-pumping ticket trouble became a reality at the arena, the group could easily conclude that official tickets with serious operators like @OLKASportresor are highly recommended. The match? It ended 1-1 after a beautiful free kick by Stach and a not-as-beautiful but oh-so-important home goal by Tammy Abraham. We just barely made the train home thanks to a minor train delay, and the journey back offered an unexpected encounter with a very strange woman. We’ll leave it at that—those who know, know.😉
The Birmingham trip is best summarized by Ozzy himself, with the song “Crazy Train.”
Those of us who stayed in London, hoping Millwall could show why they are third in The Championship, instead saw Portsmouth take three important points after winning 3-1. However, four goals and a pleasant pre-match buildup kept our spirits high. Ticking off the legendary Den from the bucket list was fun for many in the group, and the Millwall slogan “No one likes us – we don’t care” was a common thread from the pub all the way to the stadium.
On Saturday evening, we had reserved the pleasant pub Marquis Cornwallis, and here the Millwall group, the Birmingham gang, and those who spent Saturday relaxing in London without football all met up. Food, drinks, quizzes, and a really nice hangout were topped off by us running into one of the world's biggest FPL YouTubers—@FPLMate. An incredibly nice guy, one of perhaps 5-6 people in the world who make a living entirely on FPL content, and who could hardly believe he didn't just run into Swedish FPL content creators, but an entire travel group of 50 Swedish FPL listeners in a London pub. I think we made his night as much as he livened up ours. Many in the group then set their sights on the London night once more, and, according to rumours around town, the partying was of the highest calibre.
To be honest, Sunday morning was a bit sluggish for some in the group, but when the sun peeked out and the buildup for the trip's main event, Tottenham vs. Arsenal, kicked off, there was a great atmosphere around the stadium. Those of us who hold Liverpool FC in our hearts also brought a 1-0 overtime victory into the stadium just as we walked through the gates. Hugs and big smiles for my part. As usual, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium offered a magical atmosphere; sure, it cost 11 billion to build, but few new stadiums are more optimized specifically for football than this one. A 5 out of 5 rating! We sat high up in the stands for this match, and it was actually really cool to get a unique perspective on the play. Many in our large party supported Arsenal, but we also had a group of Spurs supporters. Someone was going to get to celebrate, and this time it was the Arsenal fans. The final score was 4-1, and we saw, among other things, the Swede Viktor Gyökeres score two goals. After the match, the group split up; one gang went to the pubs around the Emirates to celebrate the Gunners' victory, and I took a group to another recurring feature of our podcast trips—the Italian restaurant DeGusto in Camden. It was appreciated to break up the pub food diet with some Italian food and a glass of red wine.
Monday meant the journey home for everyone, albeit at slightly different times. However, we can summarize another incredibly successful Podcast Trip with eleven goals in three matches, newfound friends, and memories for life.
As usual, not even a fraction of everything that happened fits into a post like this (even though this became quite long, sorry about that). But the trip also included, among other things: a children's party, an unpaid pub tab, two stray portions of fish & chips, axe throwing, darts, two glass thefts, a denied bar order, a celebrity, a beer glass full of wine, Gert Fylking's football-playing son, an oversized backpack, a newly divorced man from Västmanland on Tinder, a fox, a fox transport, a Danish Millwall-fan's head hitting a metal wall, a saving "Ginger from Sweden," a saving Swede's goal celebration, a witch, five empty Jäger bottles, a desperate woman looking for company, a Harry Kane documentary in an Arsenal pub, an engagement party, a presumed baby-making session in the ladies' room, an ejected away supporter, a converting son, a fire drill, and a sharp look from a head of referees.
A big thank you to my partners in crime, Alex and Stefan, for another magical Podcast Trip. It went really well, and we had a blast. Podden Away celebrated five years in the best possible way. A big thank you also to everyone who was on the trip—you are the best! We hope you got the experience you were hoping for. We go again!
