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'Emotional' World Cup reunion for expat fans

Sarah Julian,BBC Radio WMand
Tim Page,West Midlands
News imageGary Allen A group of men in football shorts, many in sunglasses and bucket hats, stand in a public square holding a flag featuring the St George's cross. The quarters of the flag are filled with the England football crest, Black Country flag, Help for Heroes logo and "Come on England". Gary Allen
Members of the group and their families have met up at England games through the tournament

A Wolves fan who flew to the 1986 World Cup in Mexico and never came home has said meeting up with fellow supporters at this year's tournament has been "emotional", with "plenty of beer, plenty of stories".

Gary Allen was among a group of fans from Stourbridge who travelled to the tournament 40 years ago after losing their jobs and settled in the US.

He has met up with members of the group at England's matches, and said they made a film with Fifa and were collaborating on a stage play about their story.

"It's gone ballistic, really. I didn't really expect it to be like this. I mean, totally overwhelming," he told BBC Radio WM.

Amongst the matches Allen has been to was Sunday night's thrilling win over Mexico at the Azteca stadium.

"I thought they were brilliant. One of the best games I've seen, the best comeback down to 10 men. I thought we played brilliant as I'm sure most of the country did."

Although some of the group will see England play Norway in Miami on Saturday, Allen's next ticket is for a potential semi-final against Argentina.

Contrasting that prospect with 40 years ago, he said: "You had Maradona against Gary Lineker - nowadays you've got Messi against Harry Kane so it's pretty cool but a totally different game style."

Co-ordinating their own movements had changed since 1986 too: "There was no communication. You said: 'Hey, you know what, we're going to go there, catch a bus here, whatever.' It was just such a simpler time compared to nowadays."

"It's so much easier these days to organise stuff," he added.

News imageGary Allen A group of young men sit by a hotel pool on towels and sun-loungers in a slightly fuzzy analogue photo.Gary Allen
Gary Allen and friends "just played it by ear and it worked for us" when they left for the Mexico tournament in 1986.

He said the filming with Fifa was for a Disney documentary on the World Cup, called Chasing the Dream.

"I suppose what they're interested in is the way that football and in particular the World Cup can change lives."

Allen also plans to fly back to Britain in September to share his story with the producers of a stage play, which he expects to premiere in Wolverhampton before going on tour.

"[It's] basically all about the Black Country and what happened to us and how we moved on... I'm being told by next September you should see it on stage."

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