Graham Cummins: Those glamorous away trips in Europe? Actually, not so much.

Eggert Jónsson of FH Hafnarfjordur action against Greg Bolger of Sligo Rovers during the Uefa  Europa Conference League first qualifying round first leg last night. Picture: Haflidi Breidfjord / Sportsfile

It’s these weeks that I’m thankful I’m no longer a football player. 

While some loved the excitement of playing in Europe, I always dreaded it. I enjoyed the home ties of a European competition but the away trips were not pleasant. Seeing the players social media accounts from Shamrock Rovers, Sligo Rovers and Bohemians and them posting pictures of themselves sitting in an airport or hotel with a coffee, brings back all those horrible feelings of the boredom of away trips in Europe.

During my time with St Johnstone, I had one experience of an away tie in Europe. That was against FK Trakai of Lithuania and thankfully, we didn’t spend much time in the country, not because Lithuania isn’t a enjoyable place, but because I wanted to spend as little time away from home as possible. 

We flew in the day before the game and left after it. That wasn’t the case during my experiences with Cork City and Rovers in Europe. In the three away ties I was involved in with the clubs, we always travelled away two days before. I could never understand that because if you asked the majority of the squad, they would have always said going the day before the game was enough. Otherwise, by arriving two days before the game, players are spending most of their time locked in a hotel room. 

In the past, when players arrived in hotels two days before the game, we would at most, be allowed go for a coffee somewhere in the city or use the hotel pool. But even that might have changed because of Covid, and players could be more limited with what they are allowed to do.

After that, you are just watching the clock for your next meal time. The one thing about away trips in Europe is players can never complain about going hungry. Teams would normally have a room booked out in the hotel for the players to go if they wanted to get out of their room, where snacks would be available for the players outside of meal times. Players would tend to eat for the sake of it and out of sheer boredom. When I would come back from those trips, I was always two or three kilograms heavier, because the food was the one aspect of the trips I enjoyed. I can actually remember the Rovers fitness coach jokingly having a conversation with me about the amount of food I would consume.

The day before the game was just as tedious. It’s a case trying to kill time before training. Those training sessions tend to be different to what teams would do in training the day before a game. Usually, the manager will work on the shape of the team and on set-pieces, but that’s all done in their own training ground, where they are all but certain no-one from the opposition is watching - unless you are playing against Leeds United, of course... 

Instead, managers will change the session. The shape and set-plays would have been done before they left their own country so they are sure they aren’t giving anything to the opposition. Managers aren’t being paranoid thinking opposition will be watching, because I’ve experienced it.

With City, somehow a coach managed to sneak into Turners Cross and record Rosenberg’s set-pieces on their phone. I remember watching the video thinking how poor the quality was only to later find out that the recording was done without anyone’s knowledge and had to be taken without the person not really knowing what pictures they were capturing.

The day of the game, it’s basically a repeat of the previous day, except there's light at the end of the tunnel. The other variation would be that the manager would have pencilled in a meeting in the day’s itinerary. It’s very rare for players to enjoys team meetings but that gathering is more welcome than normal meetings because it breaks up part of the day.

After the game I was happiest because it meant the job was done and we could finally go home. Sometimes, we were unable to get a flight that night and it meant another night in, but with Rovers, and with the game in Norway, we were allowed go out afterwards which I was surprised by, considering we had drawn 2-2 and had the return leg the following week in Tallaght. We ended up in a bar full of SK Brann supporters who were complimenting us on our performance but also a little bit insulting in suggesting their manager should be sacked after such a result.

Although I was surprised we were left out, it shows the manager trusted his players rather than lock them away in their hotel rooms for another night. These can be a motivator for players to get to the next round so they can enjoy another night out in a foreign country.

All I can say is, I preferred watching Rovers from the comfort of my own home rather than being part of a squad that had to travel to Slovakia.