When QPR were promoted to the Premier League of English football in 2014, I started planning. The plan or hope was always to see Manchester United play Queens Park Rangers in London at the historic Loftus Road Stadium.

The problem is that Loftus Road only has a seating capacity of 18,400, which makes it the smallest grounds in the English Premier league. Factor in that Manchester United has some of the most loyal travelling supporters of any sports team in any sport on the globe, and we knew the goal of securing tickets to this game would be difficult.

I quickly realized that Kev and I had to join the “QPR Supporters Club” for $80 Canadian each to have a chance at tickets. Fortunately, my cousin Claire, who lives in London, England, was able to sort this for us.

At a cost of $160 Canadian (including QPR supporter’s club membership), we were set. I was thrilled and when you compare this to a $160 Toronto Maple Leafs ticket, I know which sporting venue I would prefer.

After our tickets were confirmed for the game Jan. 17 at Loftus Road, I got in touch with a friend who has season tickets for Manchester United. She graciously gave us two tickets to a game between Manchester United and Leicester City at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester for Jan 31.

I then got on the phone with Celtic Football Club in Glasgow and ordered two tickets to a mid-week game in Glasgow on Jan. 21 to see Celtic play Motherwell. Three games booked inside of two weeks, with the possibility of picking up another game once we landed in the United Kingdom.

Loftus Road

After arriving in England at 11 p.m. on the Friday, Kev and I woke up on our first Saturday in London armed with our Oyster Transit Cards and made our way from Clapham where we were staying to Sheppard’s Bush on the London subway system.

The atmosphere around Loftus Road was electric two hours before the game was set to kick off. I was struck by the sheer level of security and police around the stadium.

Kev headed to a QPR supporters pub for a pint and I made my way to the stadium to take pictures and soak up the atmosphere. A large crowd of Manchester United supporters were anxiously awaiting the arrival of the team bus so I joined them. Along with 500 or so Manchester United fans, we cheered players Rooney, Evans, Valencia and Degea, and coaches Van Gaal and Manchester United legend Giggs as they exited the bus.

To my amazement, when I made my way inside the stadium to meet Kev we found out our seats were front row at field level. For the next 90 minutes we cheered on our respective teams. We brought along a Canadian flag with the date and game details scribbled on it in black marker.

At halftime, the QPR Mascot came over to us to pose for pictures with our flag. The atmosphere was that of a rock concert or a religious experience. In my life, I had never experienced a sporting atmosphere this loud with so much singing.

The 500 or so travelling Manchester United fans sang for the entire game. In the end, Manchester United were just too much for Rangers to handle and won 2-0. Rooney and DeGea were magnificent for United on the day.

We had been warned that going to Loftus Road wouldn’t be like attending a pro sports game in Canada and to be careful. But in all honesty, the supporters in our section were amazing and got a real kick out of having two Canadians in their section of the stadium for the day.

Celtic Park

Next up was Glasgow, Scotland, four days later.

Kev and I decided to book a stadium tour on game day. A subway ride and a bus from our hotel landed us at Celtic Park in Glasgow in the late morning on game day.

We quickly realized that a “United Nations” of supporters would be touring the stadium with us, including two Australians, four Irish, two Scots and, of course, two Canadians. After a great two hours learning about the history of Celtic Football Club, we headed back to central Glasgow to hang out before the evening’s game. Once again we proudly brought along our Canadian flag with the date and details of the evenings game written in black marker.

Celtic demolished Motherwell by a score of 4-0 but it could have been 8-0 on this cold evening in Glasgow. We saw some cracking goals scored right in front of us. For this game, we were sitting approximately 30 rows behind Motherwell’s goal.

What I will remember most about this game was 40,000 Celtic supporters singing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” at kickoff. At this stage of the trip, I realized that football meant so much more to the people of Glasgow than the game being played. Celtic FC was about tradition and about family to most in the stadium that evening.

The Celtic supporters on the bus with us back to central Glasgow after the game were some of the friendliest and funniest people we met on our trip.

White Hart Lane

Four days later, we were back in London and took in a game at White Hart Lane between Tottenham Hotspur and Leicester City in the FA Cup. We lucked out on fantastic seats yet again, four rows from the field. Kev and I, both being neutral supporters this day, took in a 2-1 upset win by Leicester City over the home team Spurs.

White Hart Lane Stadium is known for not having a bad seat in the house, and this fulfilled expectations on this front.

Once again, we brought our Canadian flag which seemed to provide more happiness to the Spurs supporters sitting around us than their team’s effort on the pitch that day.

After the game, I was able to snap a picture with Paul Konchesky of Leicester City while holding my flag, which was a personal thrill of the trip.

Old Trafford

On our last day of our epic football journey, we made our way to Manchester and the grand finale did not disappoint.We arrived at Old Trafford Stadium in Manchester at noon and there were already thousands of supporters around the stadium.

After picking up a few items at The Manchester United Store, we went for lunch at a local fish and chips restaurant where easily 90 percent of the customers were wearing Manchester United red.

Dad and I walked the famous Munich Tunnel before the game and were in awe of the global support for this beloved team. We made our way to our seats and were nicely surprised when we realized our friend who gave us the game tickets for the game had organized ‘Kevin and Sean Harraher from Toronto’ on the stadium scoreboard prior to the game.

Manchester United went up 3-0 against a listless Leicester City before halftime on goals from Van Persie and Falcao. The game ended 3-1.

The day was extra special for most in attendance because the day marked the 50th anniversary since the Munich air crash that claimed the lives of 23 people aboard a Manchester United team flight. Songs were sung and past heroes were remembered. We took one last picture with our Canadian flag after the game, and our football journey was officially finished.

Four shrines of world football

Some people go to the Caribbean to sit on a beach for vacation. Others go to Tibet for enlightenment.

My father and I travelled from Oakville to four shrines of world football inside 14 days. Along the way, we saw the passion of Loftus Road in London, the history of Celtic Park in Glasgow, the grandeur of White Hart lane in London, and the theatre of dreams in Manchester at Old Trafford.

I'll leave the beach and the meditation to others. My father and I have been watching football passionately together for 20 years. At times we disagree on family matters and Canadian politics and at times we down right annoy each other… as I suspect most fathers and sons do.

But no matter our differences on a given day, once it’s kick off time, it’s all about the beautiful game of soccer.

Glory Glory Man United!!!

Or, as my father might say, ‘Come on you RRRRRR’s!!!’