How does a Scottish man, living in England, come to support a French football team? That’s the situation that Andrew Gibney finds himself in. One of the blokes behind the excellent French Football Weekly website, Andrew will be more interested in Lille vs Inter Milan tonight whilst a lot of us will be tuning in to see how the Manchester teams get on. Here, he tells us how he came to be an avid supporter of the French champions…

‘As I sit in a bar just outside the Lille Flandres train station watching France take on Russia in the recent EuroBasket competition I am faced with a question. And it’s a question which I know will never get easier to answer, and I don’t think there will ever been a time in my life that it will never crop up. If only I had a quick answer.

“Why are you in Lille?” the local man asks while sipping on his beer. Knowing the direction this conversation will go, I reply “To watch the football, Lille v Sochaux”. “Why Lille?” The confused Frenchman replies. “They are my team. J’adore Lille. Je suis supporter de LOSC.”

If he wasn’t confused before, he certainly is now. During my four day stay in Lille it is a conversation I would have at least five or six times. At first they think I am lying or just a football fan. It is usually when I produce the contact cards for my website with Moussa Sow – Lille’s top scorer – on the front, that they realise this is no joke.

My poor grasp of French and the Scottish accent make it obvious that Lille OSC have not been my team since birth. “Why Lille!” My Dad used to live a stone’s throw from Celtic Park in Glasgow and of course I grew up idolising the likes of Paul McStay, Paulo Di Canio and Henrik Larsson not Adebi Pele, Eric Assadourian or the Cheyrou brothers. Back in 2000 when Lille won promotion back to what is now Ligue 1 I knew very little about the team, little did I know 10 years later I would be singing their songs.

In the summer of 2004 I moved south of the border to Leeds and began a new chapter of my life at University. I had given up my season ticket at Celtic Park, a seat that I had enjoyed for seven years. Now in England access to the SPL was limited, you try getting a pub full of English students to turn off Liverpool v Chelsea for Celtic v Kilmarnock.

Just after Christmas in 2004 one of my housemates mentioned in passing that his mum was off to France and would be watching a game while there. As an avid collector of football scarfs I insisted that she bring me back a scarf from whatever team she watched. After the break for the holidays my housemate returned with a scarf in a bag. His mum had been to northern France and took in the game between Lille and AC Ajaccio. I was presented with the Lille scarf and it took pride of place on my wall. My inquisitive mind took control, the thirst for knowledge was there, I had to know more about this team.

A few weeks later I was visiting my girlfriend, now wife at her parents, and we sat up late chatting and as I flicked through the channels I hit the jackpot. Channel 4’s late night Ligue 1 coverage. We watched as this free flowing Lille side destroyed the much fancied Lyon side 4-0 with two goals from Peter Odemwingie. Unfortunately that was the penultimate match of the season, a long summer endured and I wanted to know everything about this side, the new season couldn’t come fast enough. I still remember watching Mathieu Bodmer score the opener as they opened the new season with a 2-1 win over Rennes. The next week would probably be the defining moment and the match that would cement my love for Lille.

Lille’s first home game of the 2006/07 season would be against their eternal rival RC Lens. I was working on the Sunday so I avoided the score all day and raced home to download the full match and sat down for my first Derby du Nord. It was a beautiful sunny day at the Stade Lille Metropole and the game didn’t disappoint. Peter Odemwingie’s hat-trick followed Bodmer’s opener and Lens were brushed aside 4-0. My heart was sold. Lille were my team.

My mission was clear, and I would need to go see a game live. They can’t be your team if you haven’t watched them in the flesh. Quickly the Eurostar, hotel and train to London was booked. I had made contact with a Lille fan that was going to meet me and guide me round the town. Everything was set. I would be spending St Patrick’s Day in Lille watching Les Dogues take on Le Mans…or so I thought.

Friday the 16th of March. Probably about 30 minutes before I would go to sleep, ready for my big trip the next day. Then I received an email. “Has that fire in London affected your trip?” confused I replied “What fire?”. It seems there had been a fire in a London warehouse. And then my heart broke. All Eurostar trains would be cancelled for 24 hours; the fire was too close for trains to run. My trip was cancelled. At times life gets on top of you, and through university, working and relationships the chance to go back never presented itself. Years of watching on streams, the brief year that sports channel Setanta showed live Ligue 1 and the expansion of the internet helped me watch pretty much every Lille game to the present day.

Then in 2010 after receiving my early Christmas wage from work, sitting on my PC a plan formed in my head. On March 6th my fiancé and I would fly to Jamaica to be married. On February the 19th I would be on my stag weekend. February 26th Lille would take on Lyon at home and I would be there to watch it. It took about 5 minutes of planning but before my wife got home the hotel was booked, match ticket bought and train tickets booked. My first trip to Lille was booked. Surely I couldn’t be so unlucky a second time. The weeks went past and the excitement grew. Then on Saturday the 26th of February I passed my ticket to the steward, walked up the path and climbed the steps. With the glare of the floodlights in my eyes I finally walked into the Stade Lille Metropole. I was home.

Sometimes the words just don’t exist. Stood in the Tribune Nord (North Stand) next to my friend Andy Hudson and 17,000 fellow Lille fans, something just felt right. This was meant to be. Andy tells me that my face lit up and I had the look of a giddy schoolboy. It may have taken six years but I would finally watch Lille play at home.

This would be my second time watching Lille in person. During the Europa League run in 2010 I stood in the Kop and watched Liverpool overcome a 1-0 defeat in France and beat Lille 3-1 on aggregate.This was my chance to be with the Lille fans though, sing the songs and cheer on the team. It was everything I thought it would be and everything I wanted it to be.

Last season’s achievements were more than any Lille fan could have hoped for. Watching the team do the league and cup double was an absolute delight. Living in England makes it a little difficult to just jump on a train to France. Unless you book in advance the Eurostar can become very expensive. So when this season’s fixtures were released I instantly had my next trip booked.

That brings us full circle to last month as I watched Lille draw 2-2 with Sochaux, walking around the shops and streets of Lille with my newly printed Lille away shirt made by Umbro with Mathieu Debuchy on the back and the Champions badge on the sleeve, nothing makes me happier than when a local starts a conversation and my first response is “Je suis Ecosse!” and seeing the look of confusion on their face. I suppose it’s something I should get used to.’

Thanks to Andrew for telling us about how he came to be a Lille fan – you can get a UK perspective on all the French football action over at French Football Weekly.