AirblesRoad Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Can't believe it's 20 years ago since our UEFA Cup trip to Finland, losing to MyPa47 on away goals. The damage was done in the first leg at Fir Park in a 3-1 defeat. We won the second leg 2-0, had another disallowed and we thought 17 year-old Lee McCulloch had won it for us in the dying seconds. I've never been as gutted after a football match. A home fan offered to buy my 'Well shirt and I just gave it to him. Must have been in shock!! Nobody spoke for ages on the coach afterwards, total silence. Out of Europe before the league season had even started. Wasn't all bad though. Anybody remember the Madonna Club in Kouvola, a pole dancing club? It was absolutely rocking the night before the match with 'Well fans (and Chick Young) enjoying the Estonian ladies. It would be a good few years before we troubled European competition again though. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decorator Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yassin Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wishielad Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 This makes even more interesting reading as I sit at my laptop in Finland. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
that hat Posted July 27, 2015 Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 Always been my favourite trip because of the fortunate meeting with a local girl who invited me back to Finland to stay with her and meet her family at Helsinki. Just had a look at the photographs. Happy memories. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirblesRoad Posted July 27, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 27, 2015 I was a bad boy that night. Myself and two others were the first 'Well fans to get there, before the place was officially open. We had a few beers with a local in another pub. He spoke perfect English because he had been a trainee ballet dancer in London. It's true!! You couldn't make it up! We asked him if there was anywhere else to go and he took us to the Madonna Club. He wouldn't join us because his ex-girlfriend worked there. We chapped the door and were let in by a gorilla who demanded 5 Finnish Marks each. Nobody else was in and we had a few rounds. Eventually we asked where the girls were and were told that as we had spent enough, one girl would dance for us. All the girls were from Estonia and good looking. Eventually the place was bouncing and I had already established that if you paid 15 Marks you could "go private". Not being totally sober by this time, I did. This involved a private dance in a room full of mirrors. I was handed a box of tissues and told in a sexy Estonian accent, "You can vank if you vont to". Unfortunately, my performance was as limp as the team's the next day!! If you're reading this, dear, It was before we met!! 7 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 I've got that game on dvd somewhere, can't ever remember seeing highlights of the home leg Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decorator Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
decorator Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
underboyleheating Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 The MyPa47 club shop has some interesting souvenirs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
steelboy Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 I've got that game on dvd somewhere, can't ever remember seeing highlights of the home leg Just imagine Stevie Woods running out his box like a haddy and a Finnish boy chipping the ball over him into an empty net a couple of times. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickoza Posted July 28, 2015 Report Share Posted July 28, 2015 Won't ever forget that trip. Especially Chick Young boasting he'd buy everyone on board the plane champagne if Motherwell managed to get through then shitting himself in Finland when McCulloch hit the post in the last minute. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yabba's Turd Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 Just imagine Stevie Woods running out his box like a haddy and a Finnish boy chipping the ball over him into an empty net a couple of times. I was there, I remember it, McSkimming's goal is the only euro goal I don't have footage of Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rickoza Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 Seem to recall it was a header at the near post main stand side after about 9 minutes. Then it all went horribly wrong.......... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirblesRoad Posted July 29, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 Thanks for posting the photies, boys. Happy memories! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ya Bezzer! Posted July 29, 2015 Report Share Posted July 29, 2015 The Mypa-47 team that beat us at Fir Park wasn't a bad team. Petri Jakonen - 26 caps for FinlandToni Huttunen - 11 caps for FinlandMika Viljanen - Finland U21Sami Hyypia - played for Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen. Champions League winner, 105 caps and 5 goals for FinlandJukka Koskinen - 17 caps and 1 goal for Finland, played for Willem II in Eredivise.Sami Mahlio - 25 caps for FinlandTommi Kautonen - 9 caps for FinlandJonas Kolkka - played for PSV, Panathinaikos and Feyenoord. 98 caps and 11 goals for Finland.Petri Tiainen - played for Ajax, 15 caps 2 goals for FinlandNiclas Gronholm - 17 caps 2 goals FinlandMauri Keskitalo - scored 92 league goals for Mypa. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy_P Posted July 30, 2015 Report Share Posted July 30, 2015 Had those ties occurred a fortnight, perhaps even a week later in the season then we would have gone through. The difference between the readiness of the team in the first leg and second leg a couple of weeks later was massive. Even though on paper we had a better pre-season programme lined up than compared to last year I recollect similar murmurings that we weren't as ready as we could have been and it could have been a better preparation e.g. scraping wins (one was against Darlington I think) and hushed-up red cards in friendlies. The parallels with last season kind of continued in that we went on to have a much poorer season than the one we had enjoyed the year before. I also recall that silence on the bus after the game and the deflation on the plane coming home. I had to present Brian Martin with the Exiles Club Player of the Year award for the season before at some point on the trip and it ended up being in the middle of a gutted group of players on the way back. Pretty awkward. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Goggles & Flippers Posted July 31, 2015 Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 "You can vank if you vont to". I don't know why, but when I read this my head added "one vank, two vanks, Ahhh ha haaaaa" and I envisaged the Count from Seasame Street twerking you. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AirblesRoad Posted July 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted July 31, 2015 Hahahaha. Maybe it was, I was less than sober!! Sitting there with a box of tissues, wearing the away top. It was seeing this season's new away kit that brought it all back to me! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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