August 2015: VIPs v Créteil

It had only seemed like five minutes since we had recovered from the trip back from our Summer holiday in France and I was setting off again. It was the overnight bus this time as everything had been booked late. Alex was to be joining me but he was travelling by Eurostar...thanks to shopping at Tesco, who offered him money off whenever he shopped there. Me? Our family shopped at Morrisons who offered vouchers for school gardening and money off petrol but not trains!
Having recovered from moving a wall in the garden and then building a pond with Odessa, I was finally able to get packed and set off at 10:30, after enjoying a celebratory meal for Holly's exam results. The rest of the house were heading for bed as I closed the front door and there was a big part of me wondering what I was doing. When the Metro in front broke down with 25 minutes to my bus leaving, I wondered even more as I raced to find a taxi into Newcastle.
The bus ride down to London wasn't as easy as I had remembered to sleep on, as my head kept bouncing off the window every time the lens scarf I was using a pillow slipped from under me. Add to that my neighbour who kept nodding off then shouting every time he came back to reality before making wild jerking movements....Oh and the coach was hot! Damn Hot! This was not relaxing!
Arriving in Lens 16 hours later I had to find Alex, check in at our Campanile before I finally could shower away the sweat and aches from the journey. Bruno came to collect us because we were late for our date with the press. Complimentary beers from Bruno certainly helped any aches and pains. The two reporters from La Voix du Nord who met at Bruno's restaurant seemed pleased with their photos and our answers after we had twittered on to them about our Lens traditions: sending each other pictures of yellow and red objects, planning journeys at the start of the season for April or May, the chats we have during live feeds from the games and finally my red and yellow trainers and socks: they were most impressed...but in a professional way: like a scientist studying a strange species.

Finally it was time to head to the stadium but Bruno had one more trick up his sleeve with a meeting with Club President and Mr Lens himself, Gervais Martel! Also, they had arranged for me to receive a shirt with my name on: you had to scrape me off the ceiling: could this evening get any better?
Every turn we were greeted by young ladies in black cocktail dresses and red or yellow neck scarves, all welcoming you with a friendly "Bonjour!"

Excuse me....what are they?

We headed to the inner sanctum that was only for invited guests of Gervais himself. Complimentary drinks, food and piano player...good job I had a shower before I left the hotel!
Next it was up to the seats and the Marek sounded even better from here and the white padded leather was certainly a change from the plastic bucket seats we were used to. Only half of the VIP seats were ready so our part of the Lepagnot looked a bit empty but the rest of the stadium was full. Only the top tier of the Trannin end had not been opened. The Lens fans had got behind the team and the club now more than their last drop into the depths of Ligue 2 when crowds struggled to break the 15000 level.
The team responded in a way they hadn't the previous weekend and went on the attack straight away. They were rewarded when Christian Bekamenga deflected the ball past the visiting keeper. Alex and I leapt about as if we were on the Marek while around us the celebrations were still in evidence but in a slightly calmer fashion. The visitors, who had won their first two games of the season, were on the back foot and it would have been even better if Nomanjanahary hadn't had his double effort saved by the keeper then the post.
More drink and food arrived in the interval as we waved our VIP wristbands at the be-scarfed ladies in cocktail dresses. We felt like Wayne and Garth in Wayne's World flashing their laminates as they sent off backstage at the Alice Cooper concert.

Selfies with our buddie,
Gervais, in the background.

In the second half, Lens tired and let Creteil back in. A slow pass out of defence was chased down for Pereira to score and the nervousness returned to the team. Not that the fans allowed that to worry them as they continued to sing their hearts out.
However at one point the stadium held its breath as a mistake in the Lens defence allowed Créteil's Pereira a run on goal. Delle, in the Lens goal was caught in two minds and the forward burst past him before rolling the ball towards the empty net. The pessimists in the crowd, myself included, expected it to nestle into the four corner of the net but...miraculously it trickled past both posts and to safety. Although, at the final whistle the fans whistled their disapproval, Lens still were unbeaten and improving with each game: all they had to do now was play for the full game and not run out of juice after 75 minutes.
Disappointed, the players forgot to thank the fans before they headed for the dressing room but once the Marek had sung "Where are the Lens players?" or a rough translation of that, they re-emerged to massive applause and were relieved of their shirts by the grateful throng. One lad in front of us even ended up with a pair of shorts...not sure I would have gone that far.........of course I would have!

Caught on camera, Alex and I applaud the players off...

Bruno then took us on a tour of the parts of the VIP areas that were open and we had a chance to meet the great Captain Siko, saviour of the club after the Jean-Louis Garcia nonsense. He was an extremely modest man, especially when I reminded him of that fact. We also got to meet another famous former player, however the subsequent amounts of alcohol that were incurred that evening impaired my memory of his name...answers on a postcard please...Alex?

Alex in VIP room number 3

Alex managed to get his friend to smile....
mine wasn't quite so helpful...was it the beard?

We also finally got to meet up with fellow Englishman Taylor Moore who, despite not getting onto the pitch for the second game out of three was still amazingly happy, in love with the club and proud that his younger brother was playing for the youth team. He also hinted his other brothers might be joining...could this be the beginning of a new dynasty at the club, akin to the Hazard clan (even though two of them played for Lille)? Let's hope so.

The inner sanctum. Always the last to leave....but what a night!
Glad to say the pianist kept going!

A fond farewell to an amazing ground! 

We walked back with Bruno and our new other best friend Jean Philippe, manager of Bruno's restaurants. J-P even had time to help a drunk who had been sleeping soundly on the pavement until he was awoken by the combined efforts of JP and the lady from a nearby shop. The ambulance soon arrived to take him away and allow him to escape their attentions.
We bid our farewells after an amazing evening and then met up with Jeremie who accompanied us to our final port of call: La Loco. The evening finished two and a half hours later in the best possible fashion.

Satisfied and happy!