“There are loads of people in London, but it can feel like a lonely place,” explains Kieran Duff on the stroll through Russell Square, still stewing on the fact he has forgotten his football socks for the big game. “Hopefully someone has a spare pair.”
In the changing rooms, a welcoming, ready-made friendship group of Newcastle-supporting team-mates pull on black and white jerseys while musing about early season defeats by Juventus and Inter Milan. No one brought extra socks.
“It feels silly to say, but it does feel different playing in the kit and colours,” says Newcastle Supporters’ Club captain Tom King.
“There is a little bit of your brain that is like ‘I am playing for Newcastle here’. It makes you connect with the club in a way I haven’t with any other football club I have played for.”
Next door, lads in vintage claret and blue begin to trot out and warm up. It’s a pleasantly mild Sunday lunchtime in November as Newcastle take on their Aston Villa counterparts at Coram’s Field in central London, the final embers of autumn clinging on as a groundsman attempts to clear leaves off the pitch.
This is just the start of a bumper afternoon of London Supporters’ League action that also includes AC Milan, Fiorentina, Genoa and Lazio, but on any given weekend you can find Paris St-Germain, Real Madrid, Lyon, Roma, Monza or Panathinaikos here. All dressed head to toe in full club colours.
“We won the league last year, after eight years we finally managed to win it, so we put a star on top of our crest,” beams Ludo Romagnoli, who was born in Modena before moving to Brazil and then came to London for university. “I feel so much pride representing our club.”
“It is more fun to face people who feel the badge, the colours, and have that passion for the club they are representing,” adds Pedro Aguilar, from Real Madrid London.
“Everyone has a story behind them – you get to understand why they support the team, why they love it.
“That is fascinating. Meeting people from different backgrounds and cultures and seeing how much they love football, just as we do, just through a different team.”