Always more fun in the away end.

Away fans are the true football fans. The staunch supporters who travel hundreds of miles to watch their team and bring noise and passion to every ground they visit. So, perversely, even at Loftus Road, I often prefer to sit with them. Whoever QPR are playing, I’ve usually got a mate who supports the other team. Yesterday I found myself in the away end with my mate Rob and hundreds of his fellow Wolves fans. I love their Black Country accents and the way they say “yam” rather than “you”. It was a drab old draw but was enlivened by one old codger in his mustard and gold Wolves shirt, who was old enough to remember Derek Dougan in his. He wasn’t happy. “Coome on!” he yelled, “Yam’s worse than fookin’ Albion!” To my delight, he not only sounded but looked exactly like Noddy Holder.