S2: Episode 28 - AFC Ajax in Dublin

But Fran, I will start with you because we're going to start with the Ajax game, and I know you were in Amsterdam.

And it's probably the most positive place to start from a men's team perspective anyway, even if it was a 3-1 defeat.

I'm just going to throw a general question out there to you.

How was the evening in Amsterdam?

It feels like it was ages ago now after yesterday, but we'll get to yesterday in due course, I'm sure.

But yeah, no, it was incredible.

I don't think I've ever walked out of a ground so elated after a 3-1 defeat in my life.

It was a bizarre experience.

The day was great.

I think, shout out again to John Brenner.

I think everything was very well organised and got no issues.

I don't think we're fans getting tickets and stuff.

um congregate and it was great to see um the walk down with myself and anto i went with my friend anto and we we kind of got to the metro station they put on a free train for us to try that they're really big on segregation over there you know they're they're fans that can be I think those people they're very nice and then when it comes to football they just it's like a switch flips they're absolutely the same wasn't it yeah it was the same so they're really big on segregation so they laid on the metro for us to bring us to the stadiums that was good so we may not have got to the metro station a bit earlier we made our own way but then just seeing videos of the walk down and all the fans walking down was incredible and then when they came in we were there and the noise was you know it's like 650 more of us which is great to see that many were able to travel on short notice you know i think we had an allocation of 2000 i've no doubt if we had more time more lead in time like we had for the akhmar game that being a league phase game i know that we would have we could have pushed very close to that to that allocation i think a lot more people would have been delighted to be able to travel but obviously the financial aspect of it made that difficult so fair play to everyone who was able to get over and on short notice and make us, I think we made ourselves heard despite, you know, their ground being filled with 50 odd thousand of them.

I think it was a sellout for them, you know, that was reported anyway.

They really do get behind their team.

I don't think they really understood the kind of difference between us and them.

I was saying to the lads before we started recording that, yeah, We had a walk around, we passed two Ajax fans and one of them goes, oh yeah, yeah, have a good game tonight.

And I was like, yeah, yeah, just go easy on us.

And the person he was with was just like, no, we're going to beat you.

And I was like, oh, okay, yeah, no, I don't think you understand our expectancy versus theirs.

But I think in the circumstances in terms of the game itself, I think we Look, I think I said I would have started Bon, Cam and Paddy at the back and that's what we ended up doing.

And it made very little difference because at times the size of the pitch and the size of the gaps between the lines, they just kind of walked through us.

I think Mbengue didn't know his arms from his elbow by the end of the game.

Your man, Mikel Coates, absolutely ran right down that left-hand side.

And look, he's apparently... hoping to join PSG for 60 million euro because he's so traumatized by the fact that he beat save his pen out that he just doesn't want to come to talk next week I think that's what's been officially reported and I stand by it yeah he um I don't know he he said he he was on the bench for them at the weekend and he was asked about it because people took that to me and he's trying to force a move and he was like no no I just have an eagle if I wanted to leave I wouldn't have played uh the last couple of games either and I kind of wish he hadn't but anyway look he might be there Thursday he might not be I don't know but I think he's actually just cacking himself to come to Talbot to be honest