The Town U17 squad playing at the Voskescup tournament in Belgium this weekend were surprised when a minibus containing 15 travelling supporters arrived in Lokeren to take in Sunday’s games.

The party had spent Saturday in Germany watching Fortuna Dusseldorf, whose fans are regular visitors to Portman Road, lose 2-1 at home to FC Nurnberg and when they found out the young Blues were in action in Belgium the following day decided to take a detour to catch them in action as well.

Naked Football Show regular Ray Slegg was amongst the 15 and told TWTD that their arrival early on Sunday raised a few eyebrows: “We did get one or two strange looks at 8.30 in the morning, I don’t suppose we looked the fittest and brightest specimens they had seen!

“Belgium was great, it was a very well organised tournament and the players were a credit to the club. They were great ambassadors and shook our hands and wished us safe journey home.”

The Blues youngsters were unlucky to finish seventh in the competition, had they beaten eventual winners Sint Truidense in their last group game they would have made the final.

Ray says Town’s four-goal top scorer was the player who most caught the eye: “Byron Lawrence was the stand-out star for us.”

As for the German leg of the trip, inspired by the visits Fortuna fans have made to Suffolk in recent seasons, Ray says they were welcomed warmly: “This Dusseldorf connection is really taking off now and lot of their fans were in to it. We even recorded a song for Fortuna TV, and in only one take!

“Thanks to ‘Big Dave’ from our end for doing all the driving and organising and Ulli Munsterberg at their end for organising everything, including tickets and barbecue.

“Fortuna lost 2-1 so it’s all down to their last game at Hannover next week. We may get relegated or may go to the play-offs.

“There were 53,000 people at the ground and a fantastic atmosphere. FC Nurnberg had loads of fans everywhere but there were no problems. The ‘bouncy bouncy’ was unbelievable. Thousands bouncing up and down. Magnificent!”

Photo: Action Images

loudnproud added 13:05 - May 13 Indeed Ray a good weekend out for all!!!...Pics will follow soon and as like Ray has already pointed out. The under 17s were quite surprised that we travelled over to support them,very vocally too!! Pleasure to have a team photo of us all with the squad.....These trips are becoming ever popular and growing in numbers and long may it continue with our ultimate aim of getting FC Fortuna..or as mouse calls them....(Four tins of tuna...) and ITFC involved for a preseason fixture.....Pleasure to drive you lot over their..

0

loudnproud added 16:40 - May 13 Just a few pics to hand sharing some of the delights that we had from our trip to FC Fortuna Dussledorf over the week end. We called in unannounced to support the U17s who were playing in a tournament just outside GENT in Belgium. The surprise on the kids faces was worth every penny...."The're proper fans" you overheard amongst the squad. Very proud to say that at all times they were showing their professionalism. They did us proud. Despite FC Fortuna loosing 1-2. and fighting to stay in German top flight football. This game was a sell out. 54,000. The atmosphere was simply electric and awesome. Glad to be part of it and pleased to have done our bit. Our thanks goes to our fantastic hosts......Steven who owns the Irish pub in Hilden who provided us with breakfast and beers who opened up at 08.30am on our arrival. To my close friend Ferdie who ensured we got tickets and escorted us to various pubs and venues on route to the game. He even got us onto a local TV show where we recorded and performed our Terrace chants.....(video link will soon follow im sure). For those not in the know. Our aim from both clubs is to get an official pre season friendly between the clubs. This is just a small step in the right direction to achieve it. 10 of our party were indeed football virgins, some of whom have never been outside of the uk on a footie gig like this. Im assured that they all enjoyed it and its for them to spread the word to others to get bigger numbers involved. Hats off to all those who made the effort and it was a pleasure driving you all to it.... enjoy the preseason...(wink) http://s99.photobucket.com/user/tractor ... our%202013

0

sebastien1 added 16:52 - May 13 I must Echo Rays and Daves comments, and special thanks to you Dave with you taking over all of the driving duties, Mouse had us laughing until our sides split especially in Lokeren with his dog waking antics. thank you very much to the staff at SC Lokern who on finding us unwittingly in the VIP Canteen helping us to where we were supposed to be without fuss. thank you to ITFC and to the players who did us and everyone proud and special thanks to the people of Dusseldorf and their supporters also the Nurnberg supporters for greeting us warmly as they were genuinely interested as to why we were there. on a side note with some standing. beer and smoking allowed in the stadium and with the fans mixed too , to a certain extent,with not even a hint of trouble may be something that could be introduced here.

0

sebastien1 added 16:55 - May 13 before someone gets it in " Dog walking"
0

Seasider added 17:09 - May 13 Well done lads,the supporters mainly as think there were only about 7 teams in the tournament
0

PhilTWTD added 17:24 - May 13 For some reason the link to Dave's photos didn't work. I'll give it a go: http://s99.photobucket.com/user/tractorcab/slideshow/ON%20Tour%202013
0

Gogs added 20:05 - May 13 Ray Slegg drinking lager? Well I never! Actually, thinking about it, Ray will drink anything
0

FerrersTractorboy added 20:45 - May 13 'Achtzehn Hundert Funf and Neunzig hey hey'. I used to live in Dusseldorf in the late 80s and have been a Fortuna zuschauer (fan) since, trying to attend a match as often as possible. The atmosphere at their games puts anything in England to shame. They are a wonderful club and fantastic set of fans. However ITFC are and always will be the finest football team the world has ever seen. hats off to the 15 who travelled to the Esprit Arena and then called on the u17s after.

0

F95_ITFC added 22:23 - May 13 "on a side note with some standing. beer and smoking allowed in the stadium and with the fans mixed too , to a certain extent,with not even a hint of trouble may be something that could be introduced here". Not strictly true, there was a pretty big riot in the Altstadt in the evening after the game. Nearly 300 Nuremburg fans got arrested.
0

sebastien1 added 08:18 - May 14 that's very sad to hear,. shame then that all that good work during the game was ruined.
0

sebastien1 added 08:36 - May 14 @ seasider there were 12 teams in total, just so you know.
0

allezlesbleus added 08:03 - May 15 A pre-season friendly would be a great idea.......how about alternating each year home and away?
0

madmouse1959 added 09:28 - May 15 That was a cracking weekend and a massive thanks to Dave (Loud n Proud) You played a blinder Dave !! Not only driving all the way there and back, it included a detour to watch the Ipswich under-17,s in Belgium.Then a bit of duty-free shopping to finish the week-end off nicely. The hospitality shown by our German hosts made it a memorable and enjoyable day in Dusseldorf. A big thank you to Steve/Ulli and Ferdie and their many friends who joined in being superb hosts. Top week-end !!!

0

Blogs 297 bloggers

Ipswich Town Polls