Aidan puts wife, work and bank on red alert

AIDAN MULLEN has been watching Ireland matches since 1969 and has missed one home game in all that time. In fairness, he’d just had a heart attack.

Even then, on the eve of the friendly earlier this year with Uruguay, he asked the nurses at the hospital if he could travel to the ground. Perhaps wisely, they said no.

Given this level of dedication, it is no surprise to learn that the 54-year-old Dubliner had already booked his flight to Warsaw ahead of yesterday’s draw.

Aidan, who works for the HSE and lives in Swords, admits that his employers are already aware that he will be seeking time off next June when Ireland open their campaign against the Croats in Poznan.

“They would know in work by and large that match times I will not be in the office, even at home games,” he said. “They know that I will be looking for leave around those times.

“I have made soundings that I will want time away,” Aidan says of next summer’s Euro 2012 finals.

“The expectation is that we will only be in the group stage and it’s to have an understanding that I can stay on if we go beyond the group stage.

“As for the domestic arrangements, an understanding is there as well but there is a lot of brownie points to be built up.”

The question on all Irish minds is how are people going to find the money to attend next summer’s event? It seems your friendly local credit unions are about to see a lot of footfall.

“It will be through a credit union loan, no doubt about that,” Aidan says, unabashed. “I will pitch it that it will be a home improvement loan so I can repay it [over a longer period of time]. Holiday loans have to be repaid in a shorter period of time.”

As Aidan puts it, he knows of one man who has taken out so many home improvement loans “he must have had six sets of windows put in”.

As for the cost, he says: “I would at this point in time, based on preliminary travel arrangements, including accommodation, it would be probably be about €3,000.”

Fan groups have already been in contact with the FAI regarding the ticketing situation and Aidan expects about 2,500 fans will spend the entire duration of Ireland’s spell in the tournament in eastern Europe, as will he, while a similar number will fly in and out to each game.

“The craic is not all about drinking, it’s about mixing with other fans,” he says.

It all adds up to quite a summer break, far removed from his recent heart scare. Maybe it’s just as well it occurred before a friendly, and not the hair-raising qualifier in Russia when Irish viewers visibly aged as they watched in horror and awe.

“I had beta blockers for that game and I was chewing them — well, not quite,” he jokes.

A quick word of advice: pack them next June, you’d never know when they might come in handy.