Captain Tony Bloom and Brighton ready for Europa League take-off after the madness of Marseille

So where do I begin? Probably best to start at Heathrow Airport Terminal 3, Boarding Gate 24 ready to fly to Marseille International Airport on a British Airways flight leaving at 11.20am.

As it turned out Harty Junior and I were not alone, with another 36 random Albion fans flying to the South of France for the Europa League clash, along with Brighton chairman and owner Tony Bloom.

Having known each other through the Albion for many years, Tony and I exchanged pleasantries in the departure lounge. Not just on the upcoming game but also the ongoing debate about VAR.

The mood was good, the excitement was building, what could possibly go wrong? Well throw in a near four hour delay, with the wider BA staff, not the flight crew I hasten to add, exercising all the communication skills of Marcel Marceau.

Basically, it got to the pivotal moment whilst still on the Heathrow tarmac, when our captain laid it on the line that we were fast reaching a point that he couldn’t guarantee that he could get us to France in time for the game.

Never mind us, would Tony Bloom, the architect of Albion’s European dream, end up missing Brighton’s first ever competitive game on foreign soil? Thankfully, eventually we did take off, and by then ‘Super Tony Bloom’ had already gone into full throttle.

With time clearly against us, he arranged for club staff to meet us at the airport, laid a bus on to take us to the ticket pick-up point and then drive us direct to the stadium, with a Police escort that Donald Trump would have been pushed to usurp.

And what’s more, the captain of the plane let him tells us all this over the speaker system on landing. (Harty Junior’s video has already gone viral)

Those immortal words, etched forever into my Albion memory banks. “This is not your captain speaking, this is actually your chairman speaking”

With everything on the day and into the evening apparently conspiring against us, the ultimate kick in the nuts came on the police assisted journey to the stadium with the Albion going 2-0 down inside 20 minutes, at least we got to watch it on our devices in the coach.

The, by now dubbed, ‘Heathrow 38’ eventually made it to our seats in the stadium on around 38 minutes and as if by magic the Albion started playing. Three quality chances, including a gilt edged opportunity by Danny Welbeck, gave the beleaguered Brighton travelling support hope going into the break.

A game of two halves? The second half performance was arguably worthy of all three points not just the one gained with the eventual 2-2 draw. Forget the BA debacle, the third of the game myself and my travelling companions missed, the hour I witnessed was one of the greatest moments in my half-a-century following the club. Not just the comeback on the pitch, the cauldron like atmosphere within the stadium but most of all the pride and the passion of the Albion travelling support.

With four games to go, the Europa League Group B remains wide open and my prediction that Albion will make it through to the knockout stages remains unchanged. What an unfortunate footnote then to report the shocking treatment of the travelling support by the French authorities after the game.

I appreciate that to a degree there has to be set time to keep the away fans back, but we were penned in like animals on the exit stairwell for over an hour. The organisation of the busses laid on to take us all back to the city had all the hallmarks of a chaotic free-for-all. I understand some fans were still stranded at the stadium some three hours after the final whistle, whilst a number of fans also suffered health issues at the ground with little help or assistance from either the police or stadium officials.

Clearly it’s in no way the fault of the Albion, they are basically in the hands of both the host team. Marseille, and Uefa, I just hope that these serious logistical problems are addressed before the ‘RDZ’s Blue and White Army’ converge on Holland and Greece respectively.