Player of the Year Walshy gives us his take on Day One of the 2006 Tour...

So finally it was here, the big Milan tour, the legendary Milan tour. After a difficult season with victories few and far between it was time. The itinary was sent, instructions were given, fining systems where in place, Budgie had spoken. 10am at Heathrow don't be late.

As one of the biggest touring parties to date began to gather at terminal 2, there seemed to be a lot of tension in the air and with no Budgie present (Driving with Stevie Newman), there seemed to be a few nerves. This seemed to mainly be coming from the 6 debutants joining the tour for the first time, in particular from myself who was wondering how to stop myself having a beer in the departure lounge. As the minutes ticked by the boys started to worry as Peppers and Saif had still failed to show. What could have happened, a car crash? A family emergency? Or a last minute dash to the BP garage to stock up on Peperamis?

As the last few finally arrived, there was much relief as finally we could check in and get some bloody food. As the traditional English was ordered in bulk; the boys started to relax. Food was eaten, jokes where told and the Paddy count started, by time Big Donny led us on to the plane there were unconfirmed reports that he had already caught the clap off two birds in the disabled toilets.

Once the plane was boarded there was uproar from the tallest players on the tour as Big Don, myself, Peppers, Danny and Alex stared in disbelief as Saif was led to an emergency exit seat. By time the flight had taken off things had settled once again, the wee man was sleeping, (must have been all the excitement of playing in the toy airplane in the departure lounge), Donny was testing out his Italian and Paddy was scratching his nuts wondering why they where itching so badly.

After a smooth flight, taxis were hailed and the team closed in on the Hotel Minerva. As the boys unpacked and water and food was stocked, Budgie and Steve arrived to complete the touring party. (Well, bar Toblerone who was due on Friday). It would not be long now until the first game, Gibson in the Anglo-Italian cup. The boys had managed to stay off the beers for the day and as the cars descended upon the stadium, the build-up began.

DJ Budge got the music going, everyone started their war against the midges, spray was put on, cream was placed in unpleasant areas and Donny got the girth out. Once prepared, it was time to take to the pitch.

It was a warm evening in the stadium, with humidity high and midges a-plenty. As the teams lined up it was time for the national anthems. God Save the Queen was belted out in its full glory but with the Scottish quarter (Peps and the wee man) refusing to sing, Paddy not seeming to know the actual words and Peter O'Toole seeming to be in physical pain from just listening to it, it probably did not have the intimidating effect it should have.

This did not matter because as soon as the game started CPR let their football do the singing and what a sweet melody it was. With the 5-3-2 formation that CPR had stuck by all season they went to tearing Gibson apart. Without doubt it was the best football CPR had played all season and although in the early exchanges they were thwarted they were soon rewarded for their dominance. As Stu ran through from the left he was brought down for a cast iron penalty. Despite shouts on who should have a penalty, Stu calmly placed the ball and slotted it to the right of the keeper to make it one-nil.

Soon after the restart Gibson came at us and it took Donny (in his goodbye season) to make two fantastic saves, the second one without doubt was simply magnificent and thanks to the big man CPR went in one-nil at half-time.

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In the second half it began the same way with CPR playing lovely football to which Gibson had no reply and even with the introduction of a few changes CPR continued to dominate. Paddy, who had only been on the pitch for a couple of minutes then finished off a fantastic bit of build-up play. At 2-0 and cruising CPR really did start to spray the ball around and killed the game off with a wonder goal from the wee man. Spotting the goalkeeper off his line, he casually stroked the ball over his head from 35 yards to bring the Anglo-Italian cup home for the first time in 3 years.

Cue celebrations and drinking and as CPR and Gibson settled down in the restaurant the wine started to flow, the food started to come out and the Paddy count continued to grow. Jon Murray and Saif started tucking in to bread, cheese and tomatoes, Donny began to tell stories of his past life, Budgie started to impress Gibson with his Italian and I tried to get hold of the blond Italian girl who sat next to me. Everyone was in fine sprits due to the alcohol and, for some people, the amount of food that was being served.

Once the meal was finished it was time for the old folk to hit their beds. However the big shock was the early finish for Newman, who wandered off to tuck Budgie up in bed. Although he did go a long way to rectifying this the following evening. With the Milan veteran tucked up in bed it was time for the new boys, MOTD, the wee man and Paddy to explore. They soon found a busy area by the canal and the banter began as the pints were served (Coke for Saif). As it approached closing it was time for a game of cards at the hotel - Tooley and myself headed back and made a start on the bottle of Jameson's purchased on the way out and the boys went up to prepare for the game.

To be honest I am not sure in whose room the poker began at 5 euros in winner takes all. As always when pissed rules were out the window with blatant bluffing and calls from myself that Stu had f*** all. It was then that there was a knock at the door and lo and behold there stood Budgie. Apparently the extent of Steve's snoring was keeping him awake, although according to Steve it was Budgie that woke him shouting out of the window telling me to stop making so much bloody noise. Needless to say that rather than telling us to keep the noise down, Budgie joined us for a wee dram and watched the drama unfold as Peppers beat Scotty to take the pot.

It was then time for bed. People descended on their beds and the boys of CPR dreamed of victory against Rino's...