Rangers fans are stopping at nothing to get to Seville

Planes, trains and automobiles will all be full of Rangers fans over the next few days.

Rangers fans are stopping at nothing to get to Seville for Europa League final SNS Group

“How do we get there? I don’t know, how do we get there? I don’t care, all I know is we are going there.”

For the Rangers fans singing this in stadia, bars, pubs and round their mates’ houses – the where, Seville, is fairly clear, even if travel plans remain ambiguous for many.

For the lucky ones, it’s direct flights to Malaga or Faro and then the shortish hop onward to the host city – for the rest, there are some truly ambitious journeys about to be undertaken.

“It’s Melbourne to Doha, Doha to Madrid,” Robert tells me. The lifelong Rangers fan lives Down Under, but couldn’t miss this chance. “I ummed and ahhed for about ten seconds before going to find my passport and as soon as I knew it was in date, I booked it. There are a few of us going from over here – and more from Brisbane, Sydney, Perth – it’s amazing.”

He’s not alone – a quick scan of the social media shows plans involving the Canary Islands, Morocco, Germany, Dubai and even Auckland.

Demand is through the roof, travel agents I’ve spoken to talk of this being the single biggest event many of them have ever worked on. 

They know they can’t meet the surge – the sheer volume of calls far exceeds the number of planes available, let alone the staff, the take-off and landing slots or the airport transfers.

Karen Musgrave from Barrhead Travel, which is putting on charter flights, told me: “The demand is increasing day by day, it’s incredibly busy. At first, it was asking about flights to Malaga and Faro, now it’s the Costa Del Sol and the Algarve and after that they ask about France or further away.”

For anyone who gets to the Spanish city, there is then the small matter of accommodation.

“It’s finish work, drive to Stanstead, fly to Faro, get picked up in the van and that’s our home for the week – it should be fun,” says Lewis, with an uncertain laugh.

Perhaps it’s his last line though that brings us back to the chant at the beginning. “It doesn’t matter where we’ve gone or where we sleep if we win it.”

Surely any sports fan can relate to that.

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