In the build-up to Saturday night’s Semi Final second leg between Central Coast and Adelaide United, KEEPUP spoke to two of the most passionate fans in the A-Leagues, who shared feelings of nerves and excitement about what’s to come.
Brian ‘Eggy’ Glasgow made waves on A-Leagues social media channels in the aftermath of his side’s 2-1 win over Adelaide United in the first leg of the 2022-23 Semi Finals.
Glasgow was part of the travelling Mariners faithful who witnessed their team come from behind to take leg one bragging rights at Coopers Stadium, and was pictured after the final whistle bringing his passion to the surface.
It’s been years since he’s seen a Mariners outfit this good. Playing this well. It’s led to cautious confidence ahead of leg two, with tickets all-but sold out for a crowd at Industree Group Stadium unlike what the Mariners have seen in years.
Glasgow’s love for the Mariners was born in season one. Amid the blur of all the away days and home games he’s attended, the defining memory that sealed his love for the club came in the pouring rain during a home win over Perth just eight rounds into the A-League Men’s existence.
He’s shown uncompromising loyalty to the club ever since.
“It has cost me jobs and relationships in the past,” Glasgow tells KEEPUP. “But now, I’m my own boss. I just used to tell the boss that I’m not working the day of, or the day after a game, and had some lady friends that broke up with because they got a bit upset about it all.
“There’s two for sure, and then some others that were partially related to it, I’d say my priorities were different to theirs!”
Glasgow runs his own removalist business these days; it’s the perfect job for a fan on the move who often combines interstate jobs with interstate away days.
“The last few years, even during lockdown, I’ve driven over 100,000 kilometres a year,” he says. “If someone says: ‘I want to go to Queensland’ on a certain date and there’s a game on, I’ll say: ‘If you can line it up with this day, so I can go to the game’, and I’ll give them a discount.”
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Finding time to attend Mariners games between the hundreds of thousands of kilometres spent on the road has been a joy for Glasgow of late; the Mariners have reached the finals for three successive seasons, and are now just one game shy of a first Grand Final in a decade.
But through the low times induced by three-consecutive wooden spoons, Glasgow felt the pinch from what he describes as “a rough, rough ride.”
“It became a bit like a chore,” he said. “But when you did get the scattered wins along the way, it was huge. There was a Newcastle win when we were having a really bad year, but we got a result up there, and it gave everyone hope.”
He’s felt it in the active support since the uplift in form. A “random group of misfits” who, together with an expected sellout crowd, will welcome the Mariners back to Gosford on Saturday night for one of the biggest night’s in the club’s history.
“It’s probably the same for all the other teams, but Mariners in particular, we’re all from very different backgrounds and circles, and a pretty random group of misfits that fit together,” he says.
“There’s some interesting characters, to say the least, but it all fits in on gameday. Some people you’re hanging out with outside of games, and others, you don’t know where they go or where they come from, but they’re there every weekend. They disappear and come back.
“I’ve got my little sister, who has never been into sport, she’s got a couple of little boys now that have been coming the last few years. And she now comes to a lot of games, because she sees how happy it makes them.
“They’re coming this week. They had their first Newcastle game the other week. They’re four and six, the boys. But they jumped on it, and try and sing the songs and take their shirts off and stuff. They’re loving it.
“We’re super excited about it all. There’s definitely an element of confidence there, but also a little bit of pressure.”
It’s a feeling shared between fans on both sides of this Semi Final rivalry. One of Adelaide United’s most recognisable fans will travel to Gosford a bundle of nerves ahead of Saturday’s road trip to Gosford, because he knows exactly what’s on offer for the club that emerges victorious.
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Steve Cervaro was in the front row at Adelaide Oval when Pablo Sánchez arrived off the bench to seal Adelaide United’s first and only Championship.
“That’s it – they’ve done it!” screamed commentator Simon Hill, as the Spaniard veered off toward the corner flag, whipping the faithful Reds crowd into a frenzy.
Then, Sánchez dovetailed to his left. Arms spread wide, mouth gaping, he could hardly believe the crowning moment had arrived – and that he was the orchestrator of it.
Sánchez wished to share that moment with one man in particular. Off he went in search of a red wig bouncing in the crowd.
“When Pablo scored that goal, I was on the fence,” Cervaro recalls to KEEPUP. “He found me, he came straight to me, gave me a hug and said: ‘This is for you’. I’ve got his tattoo on me, his portrait. His goal celebration when he was running, that’s the exact picture I used to get tattooed.
“If we got into the Grand Final, all those memories from 2016 will come flooding back, knowing we’re a chance to experience that high again.
“When we won it, it just feels so long ago. If we were to make the Grand Final, we’ve got another chance to feel that euphoria we had.”
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Steve Cervaro is affectionately known among the A-Leagues community as “Red Wig Steve”.
He tells KEEPUP the label of Adelaide’s “number one fan” has never sat well with him. “Number one fan? Everyone should be a number one fan,” he says. “We’re all equal at Adelaide United.”
But what can’t be argued is that Cervaro is one of the league’s most recognisable supporters. It’s what helped Sánchez pluck the Adelaide City Council worker out from the heaving Adelaide Oval crowd as he sealed the Reds’ Isuzu UTE A-League crown.
Cervaro’s memories of that priceless moment are rushing back as he prepares to travel to Gosford to will his side home in a two-legged Semi Final tie with Central Coast Mariners.
Adelaide lost leg one by two goals to one.
“This Saturday night is, as they say, a mountain to climb,” Cervaro says. “(I’m) absolutely nervous, because we failed at this stage last year against Melbourne City… I’ve just got to somehow get through the work week. I’m nervous at the best of times, but this week, there is no tomorrow.
“You’re either in the Grand Final, or you’re in hibernation for six months.”
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There’s a groan-inducing joke that feels older than time itself; the punchline is that newspapers are black, white and red all over – and the same can be said about Cervaro.
“I’ve always been a black-and-white person,” he says. “I suppose the only team that differs is Adelaide United.”
Cervaro is an avid supporter of AFL club Collingwood, who grew up on stories of his father’s travels across Italy in support of his beloved Juventus. Then, as a teenager, Cervaro became a supporter of National Soccer League club Adelaide City. They are three clubs adorned in black and white vertical stripes – and since the inception of Adelaide United and the A-League Men, those two stark colours have had to make room for red.
Cervaro’s attachment to United has coincided with countless away trips (“I don’t even want to say how much I’ve spent!”) and on Saturday, May 20, he makes the all-too-familiar trip to Gosford.
It could be Adelaide’s last game of the season. Or, it could just be one of the club’s most famous nights.
Regardless of the result, the trip itself and those precious minutes between kick-off and full-time will provide Cervaro with the cathartic escape he finds in football that keeps him coming back for more.
“I missed a few games this year because my mental health wasn’t too great… it just makes me so desperate for Saturday to come around,” he says.
“A lot of people know of my health battles, but only a real small group know that for 90 minutes I can forget my world’s problems. I can go to the football and just forget about depression, I can forget about my health problems, I can forget about everything.
“I’m very lucky, because I have the support not only from my family, but around the A-League. I didn’t know how much support I have… and I am touched that I have had an effect on people.
“But at the end of the day, I’m no different to the bloke to the side of me, or the couple in front. I’m just a passionate football supporter – and I love my United.”
Together, both Cervaro and Glasgow will arrive at Industree Group Stadium with their loyalties divided – one to the red of Adelaide, the other to the yellow and blue of the Mariners.
But together they represent the fanbases of two clubs connected by the motivation to capitalise on momentum built through recent years and arrive on the A-League Men’s biggest stage.
