Newcastle supporter Craig Doyle writes in with his thoughts on the whole away day experience of following the Magpies in Oslo.

City (Oslo/Lillestrom) - rating 7

Lillestrom is a smaller area on the outskirts of Oslo. The majority of travelling supporters I spoke to were going with the option of staying in the city centre of Oslo and taking the 20 minute train journey out to Lillestrom a couple of hours before the game. The most stunning attribute of the town was the long street heading up towards the stadium. The 3 story buildings on either side of the street featured flags hanging from poles outside the windows of supporters. Literally every 3rd or 4th window had a flag, making for a spectacular scene on the way to the ground.

Oslo is a more scenic city, close to the sea. Having little time to travel the town and spending most of what I did in bars or train stations it would be unfair to comment, but much of the guide leaflet I carried around contained information on art galleries and museums. The historical nature of the city could be reinforced by the 10 plus statues and water features I passed by on the five street walk to the train station. I did notice that all restaurants and bars offered outdoor seating at this time of year, allowing visitors to enjoy the sunshine in what appeared to be a relatively quiet and relaxed city.

Pubs/bars - rating 8

Lillestrom itself has a good few pubs on the stretch between the station and the ground. Those that I passed all had outdoor areas and welcomed the away support. ‘Martins’ was my prematch choice. Packed full of singing and dancing Lillestrom fans, but with an amazing service time of approximately 10 seconds!

The scene in Oslo was less fuelled by passion but equally as atmospheric. The Scandinavian supporters group hired out the Tempest bar/club, near the harbour, and I was delighted to see that guys, girls and kids of all ages were being made welcome at the sight of their Toon shirts. A cracking atmosphere pre game was boosted by the sound system belting out Toon related tunes and the monitors inside showing the DVD review of last season. I should also give out a mention to the Belfry bar in the city centre. The DJ seemed happy to let a few dozen Mags run the show by playing the ‘Ameobi’ song to which everyone in the downstairs club danced along to and allowing repeated karaoke requests of Hey Jude and Daydream Believer.

Stadium - rating 6

The Arasen Stadion is one of the stranger stadiums I’ve been to. The actual stadium is built inside a rectangle of buildings, which housed car dealers among other things. Once you get through the gates and inside to the actual stadium there are no turnstiles as of such. For me it was a case of finding the stall in the corner to exchange a match voucher for a match ticket (with no seat number) to give to the stewards guarding the access to the away stand. Our supporters were contained in a stand behind the goals, where we had to cram in due to there being more supporters than seats. I opted to stand up the back and was astonished to find I was sharing my view with a Lillestrom fan on the balcony of what appeared to be his flat (think Carlsberg advert, with the women but at a League 2 ground).

On further inspection I noticed the whole end was below/in front of 2 tiers of flats, complete with viewing balconies and mini gardens. The home support covered the other 3 stands almost completely. I was slightly disappointed to see sections in the middle of our stand taped off for an additional cameraman and an additional section to one side being kept unused for unknown reasons. The facilities inside the ground were also lacking for the numbers of away supporters we brought. The toilet facilities on my side of the stand got 6 men in at a push and the sole food stall was struggling to cope with demands. I was also informed that the Lillestrom club shop is down near the station and there isn’t a merchandise store at the ground, meaning I didn’t get the chance to browse through their wares, although word going round was that it wasn’t worth the bother anyway.

People - rating 8

I managed to mingle with the Lillestrom fans without any problems and this allowed me to converse with plenty of their supporters. Everyone I spoke to, male and female, young and old was passionate about Lillestrom and football in general. Many were very in touch with the Premiership and up to the minute with the latest transfer news, offering opinions on both Newcastle and other Premiership clubs. Our game also happened to coincide with the Lyn Oslo and Valerenga local derby game, meaning a mixture of supporters coming together in Oslo on the Saturday night. This didn’t cause any hassle in any of the pubs I visited. Fans of opposing sides seemed free to drink together and wear their colours wherever they went. I was approached in the street by a few Valerenga fans wishing to shake hands and share stories of our meeting a few seasons back. Similar to the Lillestrom supporters they were fanatical about the English game and you can’t help but think that Norwegian fans are deserving of a better standard of game.

Atmosphere - rating 8

The atmosphere at the game was very mixed in the Newcastle end. With no seat reservations and a huge number of Scandinavian Mags, the regular singers were grouped into pockets along the length of the stand. The majority of the Scandinavians were able to join in with the standard chants but the atmosphere died a little when they didn’t know the words. The Lillestrom support was intense. A hefty section of the stand opposite the managerial dugouts; danced, pogoed and waved flags and banners for the whole game, never deterred by the fact they were being outplayed on the pitch.

Overall trip - rating 8

An incredibly scenic country, with friendly and approachable locals who almost all speak English as a second language made for an inviting environment. Unfortunately everything in Norway is twice as expensive as it is back in the UK. Beer will set you back £5 a pint, with standard food such as coke/water (£2 a 500ml bottle), crisps (£2 a packet in a bar) and chocolate (£1.20 per Mars bar) being very overpriced. But seeing as I was only going to be there for a couple of days the prices didn’t deter me from enjoying myself too much.

Going back?

If it were less expensive I’d consider it as a nice holiday destination. Warm weather in the summer allowed for drinking outside of pubs and plenty of opportunities to socialise with the Norwegians. I don’t fancy a trip back in the winter though as the bitter cold wouldn’t go down too well with the costs of the trip. Definitely a fine destination for a few days of football but a little pricey for prolonged stays.

Thanks to Craig Doyle for writing in with his thoughts.

To view Craig’s photos from his trip click here