Dan Rollinson, Matt Kendrick, Prince William (Image: Birmingham Live)
As if the glitz, grandeur and euphoria weren’t enough when Aston Villa were once again crowned European champions, events took a completely surreal turn. By way of background, Claret and Blue podcast multimedia expert Dan Rollinson and I had been invited to the final as guests of Flixbus, one of the major sponsors of the tournament. It gave me the great privilege of actually witnessing history unfold.
But it also meant that we were sitting in some pretty decent company right on the halfway line. Unai Emery and Villa’s dugout were almost within reach, but the future king, Prince William himself, probably occupied an inferior seat to ours, about 10 rows or so back.
What happened was, before kickoff, as we took our seats, I used my journalistic instincts to strategically position myself to take a selfie with Wills himself.
But his security made that impossible. They explained it to me carefully. “No, if we allow just one, there will be a line.
“We don’t want that to happen. He’s here to watch football” – which was perfectly understandable.
We found ourselves in the hospitality section. There were Villa supporters in attendance, although there weren’t that many. Most of the attendees were neutrals.
As a result, Dan and I took it upon ourselves to translate the passion of the villa side into the hospitality area. He booed questionable refereeing decisions and praised Villa’s every pass, tackle, shot and save. It’s not like I needed a lot of saves.
The atmosphere was electric when Emi Buendia curled his second goal into the top corner of the goal with a touch of finesse.
As we turned to celebrate, we met Prince William’s eyes. He gave everything back to us, pointing and fist pumping, with unbridled enthusiasm.
He looked straight in our direction, full of energy and excitement, with an enthusiasm that matched our own glee. It was a really great moment.
Fast forward to the final whistle, and John McGinn picked up the trophy amidst a rain of ticker tape as players’ families rushed onto the pitch.
All the players were keen to celebrate, so why not?The scenes with the Villa faithful were nothing short of hilarious. To be honest, nothing could have prepared us for its enormity.
We did our best as wandering reporters, staying as close to the scene as possible through YouTube live streams and Facebook videos. We realized how lucky we were to be in that stadium and were determined to give those watching from home a real taste of this extraordinary atmosphere.
So we thought nothing of it and stayed there for about an hour after the final whistle, soaking up the atmosphere. We then headed home with the intention of leaving the stadium to record a post-game podcast.
As we strolled back, I caught the eye of Prince William again and he gave me another fist pump of victory.
And then all of a sudden, here’s what got really weird, he called us over and said, “Okay, come on, let’s talk a little bit and come with us. Dan, Matt.”
Aston Villa’s Emi Buendia celebrates scoring in Europa League final (Image: GETTY)
He actually called our names and knew who we were. “Come and let’s talk.”
We jumped over the fence to get to him, weaving our way through the crowd desperately trying to get there before our chance disappeared.
We had already traveled some distance from where we were originally seated, so we had to move through several blocks and across various seats. But we got there. He is truly a wonderful and warm-hearted person.
There’s a YouTube video that captured the moment, so you can watch it unfold in real time. But to briefly summarize it, he allowed us to film the encounter.
We chatted with him for 3-4 minutes. He had actually read an exciting and passionate piece that I had written for Birmingham Live that morning. We talked about it, shared our feelings and also discussed how the last time Villa won Europe was the month before he was born.
Dan Rollinson asked him, “So when are you coming on the podcast?” He burst out laughing and replied: “Actually, I’ve been thinking about it for a while.”
He went on to say, “I love what you guys do.” I said, “Hey, you’re making this up. Come on.” He claimed: “For Villa news, I really get it from you and John Townley and his coverage.” It was really special.
That was the best cherry blossom. Of course it was really great to be there to witness Villa being crowned European Champions again, but it was something entirely different to discover that Prince William is a fan of our podcast and admires our achievements.
But what really enhanced my evening was alleviating the ‘dad guilt’ I had been carrying for the previous 48 hours as my teenage son Samuel was unable to accompany me to Istanbul.
He was sitting his A-level exams on the day of the match, so he was drinking beer and catching up on proceedings at the Witton Arms.
I was watching from inside the stadium and we exchanged FaceTime calls to observe what was happening there, and he could see what was happening here. It was a truly uplifting connection.
I think the most effective way to ease my father’s guilt was right before he allowed Prince William to depart peacefully. I asked, “Could you please send a message to my son Samuel, my nephew Alex, and my son’s friend Jack?”
True to his word, he obeyed without hesitation. He sent a beautiful, beautiful message that said, “Sorry guys, you can’t be here, but it was a great night for Aston Villa. Come on up to the Villa!” It was a very nice and lovely message.
Then I said to my son, “I have a surprise for you. I have a message of goodwill from the future King of England.”
His reaction was one of utter disbelief. “No, no, no, no, no.” So, early in the morning, when I returned through a sea of celebratory claret and blue, he was home. I was able to send this message.
A short while later, I received a WhatsApp text message from my son. “Dad, that’s pretty cool, isn’t it?” For me, it was a “John McGinn hoisted the trophy” moment. I knew I had secured a special message for my son.
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