Away in Germany. VfB Stuttgart v FC St. Pauli, 8/8/2016.

The opening round of 2.Bundesliga fixtures weren’t kind to the FC St. Pauli fans. An away game to start the season against one of the sides relegated from the top division wasn’t going to be an easy task for their team. Add to that a four-hundred mile trip to Stuttgart if they wished to be there to witness it and all taking place in an unpopular Monday night slot for the benefit of TV. Despite all this, close to four thousand FCSP supporters were packed into the corner of the Mercedes-Benz Arena and I was one of them.

I may have travelled twice as far as those coming from Hamburg, but I probably had the better journey as a short and reasonably priced flight from Manchester deposited me in Germany’s sixth largest city on the afternoon of the match. Situated in the South, Stuttgart is the capital of the country’s third largest state, Baden-Württemberg, and is probably best known for its automotive industry – the headquarters of Mercedes-Benz and Porsche are both situated there. It is also home to VfB Stuttgart.

Seventh Heaven. FC St. Pauli v MSV Duisburg, 14/9/2015.

I cannot think of many more unpleasant ways to start a birthday week – yes, I’m stretching my birthday celebrations out for a full seven days – than having my alarm go off at four-thirty in the morning. I like sleep, you see; alarm clocks less so. On the positive side, my reward for sacrificing so much time in my comfortable bed is a twenty four hour trip to Hamburg to see FC St. Pauli play MSV Duisburg. Exactly two years to the day of watching my first game at the Millerntor-Stadion, I will be back for my seventh. In my previous six games, I’ve seen the ‘boys in brown’ (once actually in white) record five wins and one draw; scoring sixteen goals whilst conceding only six. Am I a lucky charm? Will I have the same effect tonight? Can Ewald Lienen’s side present me with an early birthday gift in the form of an entertaining win?

Four-tune is Brown and White. FC St. Pauli v Fortuna Düsseldorf, 6/4/2015.

It’s been over a year since I last stood outside the Millerntor-Stadion in St. Pauli and in that time things have changed; most noticeably, the old Nordtribüne is gone and a new stand is being erected in its place. A less noticeable change is that of the manager; when I was here last season, Roland Vrabec had been in charge of a team that flirted with the promotion places, but after a poor start to this campaign he was sacked and in came Thomas Meggle, the club’s Under-23 coach and a former St. Pauli player. After three months and no improvement in results, Meggle himself was then replaced by Ewald Lienen.

Almost four months on and St Pauli are bottom of the league and in real danger of relegation to the Third division.

Mad March Herr, Part 3. Ultra Sankt Pauli. FC St. Pauli v SpVgg Greuther Fürth, 28/3/2014.

Depending on the act in question, doing something three times in a month could possibly be seen as excessive. To the uninitiated, going to watch football in Germany is probably one of these, but finding a St. Pauli home game and a gig by one of my favourite bands on in the same district only two days apart seemed too good an opportunity to miss out on. So, only four days after returning from Berlin and just over three weeks after my last visit to Hamburg, I fly out of Manchester for a three day jaunt. Once again, I’m joined by my father, who having not been in Germany for over forty years, has now been back twice in a matter of weeks.

Mad March Herr, Part 1. He’s Back! And This Time He’s Brought His Dad. FC St. Pauli v 1. FC Union Berlin, 3/3/2014.

Way back in time, 1968-1971 to be precise, my father had served in the British Army in Germany. Since then, a lot had happened: decimalisation, the Hand of God/Maradona, the fall of the Berlin Wall, oh and my dad got married and me and my brother were born. In the very early nineties, those pre-Sky/Premier League days, he had regularly taken me to Goodison Park to watch Everton despite him being a Liverpool supporter, but after that we hadn’t been to see a game together until last year, when we saw Everton play Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. I don’t think he particularly enjoyed it. Not so much the game, but more the experience of it. Especially the ‘fans’ getting up every few minutes to go and get food or a drink, then coming back late after half-time and spending the majority of the match talking amongst themselves and not watching then game.

After hearing my tales of recent trips to Germany and it’s football fan’s utopia, he asked if he could join me the next time I went over. I didn’t need asking twice and searching through the fixtures for an upcoming game, found St Pauli v Union Berlin, a clash of teams who both had a chance of promotion to the Bundesliga and two of the so called ‘Kult’ clubs. A perfect introduction to German football. So begins my Mad March: three trips to Germany in the space of a month and the first time my father has been back there for over forty years.

Millerntor Nights. FC St. Pauli v FC Energie Cottbus, 11/11/2013.

Upon arriving home after a very successful trip to Berlin and Hamburg, pretty much the first thing I do is set about planning my next adventure. One thing is for certain, I want to return to Hamburg and watch St. Pauli again. The atmosphere there was intoxicating and I craved more. After some investigation, I find a Monday night game against FC Energie Cottbus and if that isn’t enticing enough, a Mark Lanegan gig the evening after at a venue only a short walk from the ground. Without a second thought, I book the whole thing and a month and a half later, on a Monday afternoon, I fly out of a decidedly quiet Manchester airport. Waiting to board the plane, I speak to some German fans who’ve just been over to Manchester to watch Man Utd v Arsenal the day before. Only a few hours from now, I’l be stood on the terrace at the Millerntor with a beer in my hand having only paid €14 for my ticket. I firmly believe I’m getting the better deal.

Two Games in 20 Hours. Hertha BSC v VfB Stuttgart, 13/9/2013. FC St. Pauli v FSV Frankfurt, 14/9/2013.

In September 2012, I visited Berlin and Amsterdam with my friend Jeff and despite going to both Berlin’s Olympiastadion (for an early morning look around) and the Amsterdam Arena (to find the museum had been moved elsewhere), the closest we got to witnessing any football was watching FC Köln and St. Pauli contest a goalless draw on a tiny screen in a bar in ‘hip’ Prenzlauer Berg (the highlight of which being one of the patron’s flat cap/circus strongman moustache/bow tie combination). We vowed to return to see a match. After several drunken conversations in Manchester boozers, a plan was hatched for the following season: a game at the Olympiastadion and a St. Pauli home match in the same weekend. We didn’t have to wait long, on the second weekend of September 2013, Hertha Berlin were due to play host to VfB Stuttgart on the Friday evening and St. Pauli were at home to FSV Frankfurt the following afternoon. So, almost a year to the day of our previous visit, four of us flew out to Berlin.

My Afternoon as a St. Pauli Ultra. FC St. Pauli v SpVgg Greuther Fürth, 28/3/2014.

Having started following German football after a holiday a few years ago there were a couple of things I had really wanted to do: be part of the Yellow Wall on Dortmund’s Südtribüne (nearly 25,000 people standing on one terrace) and stand on St. Pauli’s Südkurve, home of the St. Pauli Ultras. In March I was lucky enough to do the latter.