Things that go bump in the day

Having previously completed his own scouting mission to the Victoria Stadium in Gibraltar, Mick McCarthy had already given us the heads-up on the little ground’s unique location, squeezed in, he said, between the Rock and the airport. And he wasn’t kidding.

When we first got to see it for ourselves yesterday morning, it was immediately clear that — forget the likes of the Tramway End and The Shed — on this pitch you’re either playing into the Runway end or the Rock End. For such an intimate ground, it’s quite the spectacular backdrop. What McCarthy neglected to mention, however, was that flying into the airport itself is a pretty hair-raising experience too. As, for that matter, is driving in its immediate vicinity.