Invited up here by my buddy who has tickets. He is not a big Malmo fan, but comes from the area, and they are all getting terribly excited about Malmos adventures, very much a minnow at this level. I'm told to expect a very good atmosphere. They need to win though, to have any chance of progressing.
Southern Sweden is like the South of England after somebody ordered a massive clean up and got everybody to travel by bike.
Hoping for two big wins Oop North tonight....
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I'm now being threatened with a visit to some statue of Zlatan in the "ghetto" where he was raised. Well we'll see about "ghetto"....
Was in Malmo in September. Lovely place.
Sounds a great game to be at as a netural.
I brought my step father in law to a game at Bramhall Lane a few weeks back when he was visiting and true to form he wore his Malmo blue and white scarf to the game (in the home end). Let's just say a few people mentioned the scarf numerous times before, during and after the game, lol.
Zlatan is indeed from Rosengard which is Malmo's 'ghetto'. Large ageing high rise flats complex, with mostly 'new swedes' as the non-pc locals call it. Turning Torso it aint! Zlatan adopts a god like staus in his home town, which about matches his ego. I got pulled near the flats one night by police for not having any bike lights on. A serious offence which attracts a big fine and nearly got me arrested (when i ignored the female officer and carried on regardless).
Can't say enough positives about the town. Cheap flights too, with it being only a few stops from Copenhagen airport, across 'The Bridge'.
Malmo's old stadium is alongside the new one, still maintained and going to be used for athletics apparently. The one drawback was that there wasn't a metro station handy but after a 15 minute walk we reached the train station. There we parted company with my mate's son. the train whisked us back to Lund at 100mph in 10 minutes, while less than an hour after we parted his son reported that he too was back in his student flat in Copenhagen - another country!
I've got a lot of time for the Swedish, I've never felt as safe and as welcomed as I did in that country.
My biggest regret, without a doubt, was not going to a fixture at Malmo. It was back in March I think, when the football season had just kicked off, I got ready but ended up sleeping in my hotel room. In the end I went out to Malmo in the evening and found an Irish bar near Lilla Torg (spelling? Small square) - open fires and lots of bars and clubs... Beautiful.
I've actually booked a long weekend in Copenhagen at the end of the month - part break and partly to visit Malmo, Lund and hopefully a few people I worked with.
-Whole crowd singing the Malmo anthem before the start
- "Roy's Corner"
Have a vid of Roy on the pitch at half time receiving an award to rapturous acclaim, but seems .mov files "are not allowed"
We popped round to his current seafront residence (see pic) to invite him to lunch and discuss the meaning of the word "ghetto" with him, but he wasn't in.
I remember, after one of my nights of soul searching in Malmö one evening, being told by a colleague that I'd ended up walking through a "ghetto" that was "overrun by Kosovans". I was stunned.. I'd walked around listening to my iPod without a care in the world. Never felt threatened and never felt the slightest bit insecure...
In fact, I've just got a cab from outside Herne Hill station and felt more worried outside the station there.. Once again; Sweden is a country I have far too much affection for. They truly are a special race with a special place.