So the moment had come. The new era, the new stadium, and hopefully a new successful chapter in the CCFC story. I've driven past the stadium more times than I care to remember, from its ground-breaking to its final completion, but this was it. A watershed moment. The first chance to get inside and soak it up.
My first concern was whether or not my stadium card was going to work or not. I had visions of it being swallowed up with an angry queue forming behind me whilst I grovelled with a steward to let me in. Alas, this didn't happen, and my passage through the turnstiles was as smooth as a Terry Thomas one-liner. It wasn't though for the poor soul in front of me who's card just didn't want to play ball, and then had to plead his case to the on hand friendly steward. And 6 turnstiles serving the Ninian Stand!!!
There was a little bit of the wow factor when I walked up the steps into the ground. I've seen countless pictures and 360 panoramic views on the Interweb, but they don't measure up to actually experiencing it for yourself. The first thing that really struck me was the quality of the pitch. It looked superb, very baize like, and with no camber, the illusion is that it looks bigger. I sat down just as the game started, happy to miss all the preamble guff.
As for the game itself, it was pretty irrelevant. I was more interested in peering around the ground in detail, and with the 'fun and games' developing between the sets of fans, the action on the pitch was now pretty trivial. Fair play to the Celtic fans, they never shut for the first 45 and added to a cracking atmosphere.
Player wise, the two stand outs were Burke and new boy Gerrard. The scouser made some excellent tackles early on, and looks very capable at a higher level. When Burke came on in the second half it was good to see him running at the opposition. Something he was doing at the end of last season but to no avail. New boy Quinn looked comfortable, not particularly quick, but his positioning looked good. As for the rest, it was business as usual. Ledley looked like his mind was on other more important things (move to the Prem probably) and Big Both and Chops linked up well occasionally.
All of half time was spent queuing for a pint of generic stadium lager and wondering just what kind of world we live in where a packet of Quavers costs a quid. Anyway, there was no rush to immediately retake our seats for the 2nd half, so we carried on supping and taking in our new surroundings.
The game petered out to its natural conclusion, and as the final whistle went and the players had barely left the pitch, on came the Cardiff City Formation Lawn Mowing Team for a quick cut. That new grass must grow quick.
So all in all an enjoyable evening out. Some new joys and a few grumbles (i.e no big screen yet, woefully inadequate PA system) which I'm sure will be in place for the Scunthorpe game, but signs of good things to come.
New chant for this season - "Sit down if you hate Swansea"
