Easy Jet to Almaty

I like away games. There's something about all the effort and preperation that you put in just to watch 90 minutes of inevitably disappointing football in cold, wet, roofless, half-empty grounds up and down the country, that appeals to me. There's a thrill about visiting a new stadium, observing all the quirks of each club and trying to find a decent pint in a town you've never been to before. You spend so much of the match day in traffic jams or puzzling over train timetables, the game itself tends to flash past in the blink of an eye before the long, silent (or occasionally jubilant) slog home begins. But of course, the expectation and realisation of a rare away win is the thing that really makes these trips special.

With that in mind, let's spare a thought for the plucky England fans who have made the impressive 7000+ mile round trip to Kazakhstan for Saturday's World Cup qualifier. This is the kind of away trip to test the mettle and wallets of the hardiest of fans. I for one, can't even find cheap flights to Manchester, so quite how you would go about trying to budget fly your way to Almaty, is beyond me.

Of course, this all pales in significance to the plight of the travelling Kazak fan. Every away game for them in this qualification group is an inter-continental upheaval. Quite why Kazakhstan are in the European pool is beyond my comprehension. I know it's something to do with UEFA's retention of the former Soviet states, but this is quite clearly an Asian country, right? Their club sides compete in the Asian version of the Champions League after all. Mind you, if Australia can now be deemed to be part of the Asian region then I guess anything goes. No doubt Brazil will soon be competing in the European zone, to save them having to fly all their European based players back to pesky old South America.

So hats off to the England travelling contingent and lets hope they can enjoy a triumphant return journey, as opposed to a 3,500 mile glum-a-thon.

All this talk of long distance away games brings to mind the comments of former Bournemouth centre-back and tireless self-publisist, Josh Gowling. Having put in a few dodgy stints halfway through one particularly inglorious season, the defender sought a scapegoat for his poor performances and decided to blame it on the long away-day coach journeys from the South coast. His constant media bleatings did little to endear him to the fans and he was sold the following summer to Carlisle United, of all teams; the English league's very own Kazakhstan! Hard lines Josh.