John Miranda

After the extraordinary level of helpfulness from the guys in the management and press office of KK Crvena Zvezda in procuring the basketball derby ticket the previous night, there is always one that spoils it. My mind suffers eternal flashback to the security guard waving his gun at an empty BKV Elore in Budapest. Belgrade's "Mr Unhelpful" was to be found at the defunct home of FK Obilic. In advance of my derby ticket forray, I had decided another tour of the grounds was in order. If you are reading this blog and have read others, you will have spotted the pattern developing - if there is some stadium architecture to see, I will endeavour to get to it. It really is a great way to see behind the scenes of a city - to go ... read more

They like an early start in the Serbian Division 3. FK Beograd and Hajduk Beograd tend to start their home games at 10 on a Sunday. This is not unusual in Eastern Europe - Viktoria Zizkhov in Prague exploited the tendency of the local population to like a drink on a Sunday morning to boost their attendances. The bar stayed was firmly shut at FK Beograd when I arrived at 9.15 and it stayed that way for the duration of FK Vozdovac's visit. I greeted my translator from the previous day when I had been watching FK Vozdovac train, as I wandered across the pitch taking photos. There wasn't even a stray dog to bother me. FK Beograd's stadium and I use the word very loosely, is hemmed in between the development of new flats that ... read more

Nina Hagen’s view of East Berlin was that it was a world of black and white – the colour was missing. The main tourist hot spots of today’s Berlin are in the old East, but the colour is returning .......... slowly. The woman dressed as a clown by the Brandenburg Gate, had graduated to colour but still looked like she had lost a Euro and found an old East German mark! Her mood clearly didn’t improve as she saw a long lenses aimed at her. The East German border guard continued to work the crowd by the Gate. A cheery soul he skilfully targets the snap happy and creates the pose of the past, before gratefully accepting any contributions or perhaps the Euro the clown had lost. He was doing brisk business. The skill set could ... read more

The afternoon was cold and miserable. The wind was sweeping across the River Spree. The turf was artificial. There were no stands and the clubhouse consisted of nothing more than some toilets and changing rooms. It was all a bit of a contrast to the 74,000 at Hertha and the excitable Borussia Dortmund fans we had seen at Zoogarten the previous day. Welcome to reserve team football. The insult to add to the injury was the 6 Euros entrance fee. We contemplated watching from the nearby road, which involved nothing more complicated than looking through a wire mesh fence. 1 FC Union Berlin were entertaining 1 FC Neu Brandenberg at the training complex of Union on Bruno Bergel Weg near to the Oberspree S Bahn. We taken a tram from Karlshorst, where we’d had our museum ... read more

Berlin…………..another year on! Berlin Schonefeld was busier, but we are not talking Heathrow. The locals are all still called Jack Wolfskin and the transport got off to a good start this time with the first Airport Express into the city not being cancelled. We were a Kleingruppe this time ……………15.50 Euros for an all day ticket in ABC…… the ticket system looked familiar, although pressing the English flag button always helps. The first port of call was the Hertha BSC ticketshop near Zoogarten. Borussia Dortmund were Saturday’s visitors and tickets had been selling like hot cakes. The previous high crowd was only just over 62,000, so there was plenty of capacity to go around was the confident stance. Alas not, there were precisely 22 left ….. yes 22 tickets out of 74,400! And they were mostly ... read more