So, belated trip Report from Loftus Road: It was awesome.
As I mentioned we were in the 2nd row of section S. I'm pretty sure we were closer to the pitch than even the Pitchside seats at Yankee Stadium, and for only about $45. $35 for my parents since they are seniors. Can't beat that. We sat in the Ellerslie road stand which I believe is the oldest. It was extremely bare-bones, was rather similar to Fordham's stand, except with seats, less legroom, more barbed wire, ridiculously tiny and crowded "concourse", and - pukka pies, which I passed on. I did chug a Carlsberg before the game though. I won't be complaining about beer options at Yankee Stadium anymore.
I would love it if we built a stadium that put fans equally close to the field. But even then equivalent seats would be unaffordable. Then again, by the time it actually gets built the level of play on display might well be higher than what I saw last week.
Not a whole lot to say about the game itself as QPR was completely outclassed in every way. Newcastle's 3000 (!) away fans were louder than the home fans (and we were much closer to the home group) even in the early stages, and once the slaughter got going the difference only got bigger. QPR fans stayed with it longer than I might have expected though. Several older guys near me started really ripping into the team (and well within earshot of the players) towards the end which was kind of funny until you looked at them and saw their faces red with rage. Yikes. Crowd was a lot of fun on the whole, lots of little chants breaking out everywhere.
Not a single card was issued oddly enough.
Train home was full of drunk and enthusiastic Newcastle fans, we heard the Rafa Benitez song about 20 more times. All in all it was a fantastic experience, and along with Evensong at York Minster, one of the highlights of the trip.
