I booked my trip to Croatia and Spain as soon as the draw was made in January but of course when you’re getting the best deal you can the cheapest flights are also non-refundable. It was six days after the draw that Uefa announced the Croatia game would be played behind closed doors. That caused more than a pregnant pause.

I do remember the incident of the swastika being marked into the grass against Italy but that was in June 2015. With the passage of time the punishment is forgotten and most people assumed Croatia must have played two or three Uefa-sanctioned games in the intervening period. World Cup qualifiers are Fifa-sanctioned, of course, so it does stack up but I’d totally forgotten about that along with many others. I broke out in a cold sweat when reality dawned but we are where we are. I wouldn’t be surprised if more than 100 England fans are going. As many as 500 would seem feasible.

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I booked a round trip from Heathrow to Croatia, Croatia to Spain and back home for around £500, so ditching all the flights and starting again was not an option. I’m flying to Zagreb at 8.25am on Friday, then five of us are getting an Uber from Zagreb to Rijeka for £25-£30 each. Then it’s the same back to Zagreb after the game to get an early flight to Barcelona. There’s no point in getting a hotel in Rijeka. People are coming from all corners for the game – Trieste and Ljubljana for example.

I don’t know how the authorities will deal with it. Sometimes they just let people in. Manchester City played at CSKA Moscow in a behind-closed-doors Champions League game a few years ago and a few hundred got in to watch that, and that is a Uefa-sanctioned competition. I’ve no idea if we’ll be able to get in. We’ll see what the lie of the land is when we get there. It looks a fairly open ground.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Garford at the World Cup. Photograph: Unknown

The ban is justified for Croatia but a tad unfair on us. I’ve been to Zagreb for two games. The first time – the Gary Neville own goal – we had a lot of hassle with people being beaten up by the authorities at the turnstiles. The second time was fine. I manage England Fans FC and we try to play matches against opposition fans if we can, although not this weekend for obvious reasons. We had a game against Croatia fans in Zupanja before that game and had a great time. We were well received and well looked after. The more you travel you find there is more we have in common than divides us.

I think Uefa is looking at this as a financial punishment for the Croatian FA because it would sell out for an England game. It will hurt Croatia in that regard. I don’t blame the FA for what has happened but I can’t see why, when the draw was made, it wasn’t flashed up immediately that the game would be behind closed doors. Uefa must have known. Even then, some England fans would have gone.

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It’s been years since I missed an England match. My first was in February 1972, England Under-23s v Scotland at the Baseball Ground in Derby. Keegan, Shilton, McFarland, Todd, Brooking and Channon, who got both goals, were in the England squad. Dalglish and Macari played for Scotland. I still have the programme and though it says 7.30pm kick-off I remember it kicked off in the afternoon because the industrial action at the time meant there were no floodlights.

On Saturday morning I’ll be flying to Barcelona then Málaga, driving to Seville, driving back to Málaga, flying back to Gatwick on Tuesday morning and back in work Tuesday afternoon. The life of an England fan, eh?