Austria Vienna v Everton
Part 3: After Match Discussions

After the match, we hung around in the Main Stand as Sascha was keen to see the last few minutes of a cup match on TV in one of the boxes just above . He hates Rapid Vienna so much that he refers to them (as I had to do) as “the other team”. They were 0-0 against a lower league team, with the prospect of a penalty shoot-out looming.

I spotted Bill Kenwright on his own further down the stand, so went over for a chat. He didn’t remember me from our previous meeting some years ago. Unperturbed, I came straight to the point and asked him about Baines and Fellaini. He replied that he didn’t get involved in those matters.

We split up and I drifted down to join a few Evertonians with 3 players (Jagielka, Baines and Robles), who had come to the edge of the stand to sign autographs and pose for photos. Incidentally when Sascha saw Robles later he wasn’t impressed by his Burberry “man bag”. I wanted to do a Basil Fawlty impression and say “he is from Barcelona” (OK, Madrid), but it would have been wasted on him). I asked them if they were going into Vienna (yes, I know, you are thinking here come the tourist brochures!), but they said that they were flying back to prepare for Accrington Stanley.

Graeme Sharp was also there chatting to some Evertonians that he knew in the stand. I heard Blue Kipper mentioned at one stage. Interviews with EvertonTV were taking place, notably with Roberto Martinez.

A big cheer went up from the back of the stand, from which I deduced that Rapid had been knocked out of the cup (5-4 on penalties). I was not too concerned, even though I am a closet Rapid fan. When I came to live here I needed to have a team to follow, so chose Rapid as we beat them in the Cup Winners Cup Final. Also I was not overly impressed by Austria Vienna playing in purple and changing their name every few years. So Rapid it was.

We then moved round the back of the stand and found ourselves in a compound with the players coach and executives vehicle. I saw Bill Kenwright move towards fans who were outside the railings to talk to them. I chatted to Robert Elstone, who seemed very approachable. I said how pleasantly informal it was and he agreed. He added that it would be good to play football during the summer. We agreed that Robles had a fine game and that it had been a good workout for the players.

Shortly afterwards a clearly exasperated Bill Kenwright came up to me and said “They are still going on about the Arteta money”. I subtly changed the subject and asked him if he knew ToffeeWeb. He said he did, but never looked at it. I said “just as well”. He went on to say that Howard Kendall was told to avoid all “fanzines” when he came to the club as manager. He added that he doesn’t even look at newspapers these days. Pressure?

We then chatted about Vienna. He asked me if I enjoyed living here. He had lunched in the city centre and was very impressed with what he had seen. He thought it was such a clean city. Living in London, as he does, that is hardly surprising.

He asked how good were Austria Vienna, so I brought Sascha into the conversation. He, very honestly, replied that they were the second best team in Austria – the best being Red Bull Salzburg, who they beat to the title. I told Bill Kenwright about “the other team” thing, saying that at least we call our hated rivals “redshite”. I told him that on the way to the ground we had noticed a fan wearing a new t-shirt. On the back was the league table from last season. Everything else was normal apart from one thing. In the Rapid Vienna points column, and in a brighter colour, it stated simply -25. Yes, they had 25 points less than their city rivals.

Any ideas? No, I don’t think -2 has quite the same impact!

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